


The 40,794th Inter-Dimensional Hero Awards

by pearlsapphiresnapdragon



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Danny Phantom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hercules (1997), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Dimensions, Gen, Heroes, OC's (one is an alternate reality version of a DP canon character and the rest are minor), Villains, told from Danny's perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 23:32:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1529825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearlsapphiresnapdragon/pseuds/pearlsapphiresnapdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A reluctant Danny Phantom is 'invited' to the Heroes. The ceremony is interrupted by none other than Lex Luthor himself, with a plan to get rid of all heroes once and for all. Thrown into a hostile dimension, Danny and his new friends (Jack Frost, Percy Jackson, Hercules, Avatar Korra and Harry Potter) must find a way back before their own worlds are overrun by villains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters that appear in the Hero Awards. I do not presume to have nearly the imagination or talent necessary to create such endearing characters, nor do I intend to profit in any way from this or any other story featuring characters not of my own design.
> 
> PP happened but there was no revelation of Danny's secret identity.
> 
> Originally posted a while back on FFn as pinkiethebandit (I've since changed my username to scarletsnapdragon there too)

Dear Mr. Phantom,

            Congratulations! It is with great pleasure and the utmost appreciation that I write to inform you of your selection as an honoree at the 40,794th Inter-Dimensional Hero Awards. Additionally, your selfless deeds over the course of this year have earned you a nomination in the category of Best Hero – Junior Male.

            I understand that this letter may come as a bit of a shock, given that it is your first time as an honoree. Do not be alarmed! Your secret identity has in no way been compromised. We here at the Inter-Dimensional Hero Association (IDHA) are committed to the protection of our honorees’ privacy and safety. To that end no guests will be permitted. We hope you understand that this is for your own protection, as well as that of your peers. Please forgive the inconvenience.

            The IDHA is a benign organization that seeks to give back to the community of extraordinary individuals that protect truth, justice and all that is good and right across the myriad planes of existence. We understand just how thankless and unappreciated the hero service can be, so we’ve made it our mission to ensure that every hero gets the recognition he deserves.

            Precisely one week from the arrival of this letter at your place of residence, you will be teleported to the ceremony venue. Although we may not disclose the precise location of the venue, rest assured that it is in a secret, highly secure dimension in which time passes so quickly that several hours will be compressed into mere seconds in your home dimension. At the end of the night’s festivities, transportation back to the point of departure will be provided.

            It is our sincere hope that this night will be of great value to you in terms of overall morale and enjoyment.

With deepest gratitude for your service,

           Soleni Malba xi Keredou

           Chairman of the IDHA Committee

Note: The dress code for the evening is formal. Hero garb is HIGHLY discouraged.

 ***

Danny stared down at the letter in his hands. This had to be a joke. Or a scheme to get him alone somewhere and kick his butt. Could Vlad be back from outer space? Had he been here, in Danny’s own room?

            He picked up his phone and texted Sam and Tucker a request to meet at the Nasty Burger. By the time they both responded in the affirmative, Danny was halfway there.

           ***

Tucker finished reading the letter and passed it to Sam. As her eyes scanned down the page, her dismay increased.  “Danny, what is this?” she said, concerned.

            Danny shook his head. “I don’t know.”

            “Do you think Vlad – ” Tucker started.

            “Maybe. It sure is his style. Only why isn’t he telling me to be somewhere? What’s this nonsense about teleportation?”

            “And isn’t Vlad still in exile? I mean, if he were back, we’d’ve heard something by now, don’t you think?” Sam put in.

             “Yeah, it’d be on the news everywhere.”

          “Maybe it’s just a prank,” said Tucker, “Not that that makes it any better. Man, who else could possibly know you’re Danny Phantom? Besides the ghosts, I mean.”

            “Maybe it was a ghost?” Danny suggested hopefully. A ghost he could deal with. Besides, ghosts didn’t usually have any use for the media, his ball and chain these days. Unless this was a journalist ghost or something he thought in horror. He pictured the Box Ghost with a huge camera and newspapers of doom and grimaced.

            “Hey man, you okay?”

            Danny shook his head to rid himself of the appalling image. “Uh, yeah. Sorry…I guess I’ll go cruise around the Zone, see if anyone knows anything about this.”

            “You want us to come with you?” Sam asked.

            “Nah, I can handle it. It’ll just be a quick look around,” he replied offhand.

 ***

Danny zoomed through the swirly green of the Ghost Zone, dodging doors. There was a good chance he wouldn't actually find anything here but he had to try. Whether this was a prank or a plot, someone was messing with him and he wouldn’t let it go on. Danny Fenton might have to put up with bullying, but Danny Phantom wasn’t about to.

            He checked in with Dora first, and she was very sorry but she didn’t know anything about it. Same with Frostbite and Kitty and Johnny. He tried a number of other ghosts, but either they didn’t know or they promptly started shooting ectorays at him. Ember seemed to be in a particularly bad mood. She got him pretty good before he even opened his mouth. He decided he better avoid Skulker too, which was generally a good plan in and of itself.

            Sighing, he floated thoughtfully in mid-ectoplasm, wondering who else he could ask about the letter. Sadly, he didn’t have any ‘hero’ friends. Wait a second, he’d forgotten about Pandora! If anyone in the Zone knew about heroes, it had to be the ancient Greek ghost. Her lair was farther than he’d wanted to go, but she could be his best chance at confirming that there was no such thing as the Inter-Dimensional Hero Awards. That would at least be a start. Come to think of it, Clockwork’s lair wasn’t too far from Pandora’s. Yeah, that would work. He’d go to Pandora first, but if she didn’t know anything he’d try Clockwork.

            “Oh, certainly I’ve heard of the Inter-Dimensional Hero Awards! They were all the rage back in the day, when I was still hanging out in the Underworld. All the big names were invited. Theseus, Jason, Hercules. Granted, some of them were less than heroic by today’s standards, but in those days slaying monsters and going on quests was a big deal.”

            “Wait, you’re telling me this is real? Not a joke or scheme?” He couldn’t believe it.

         “Oh, yes. The shades of the Underworld loved to gossip, there was nothing else to do after all, and every year the Heroes were a favorite topic. Why, I remember the year Jason got the Hero for Best Quest. He was gorgeous, that man. His wife, Medea, though – that was back when they still allowed guests – she was wearing this horrible golden robe, and to top it off, it got caught on something on the red carpet and _her ankle was showing_ ,” she said, scandalized.

            “Wow, what a harlot,” Danny replied, deadpan. “Well, thanks, Pandora. It’s good to know that no one’s after me. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this teleportation business, would you?”

            “Not a clue. _I_ was never invited, you see.” Uh-oh. That must be a sore subject. He better not mention that he didn’t want to go.

            Danny laughed nervously. “Uh, I better get going or I’ll be late for dinner. Thanks again, Pandora.”

            “Come by again sometime! I’d love to hear all about this year’s Heroes,” she called after him. “Assuming the Inter-Dimensional Villain’s Convention doesn’t manage to crash the party and kill you all this year.”

            Danny didn’t hear the last part.

***           

Five days later, he still hadn’t figured out how to circumvent this dubious teleportation nonsense. He’d whined to Clockwork about it, but the ghost just smiled and told him a little praise never hurt anyone. There was a twinkle in his eye when he said it that made Danny suspicious in the extreme. How did these nominations come about anyway? He had a feeling that Clockwork knew the answer, and not just because he was the knowledgeable type.

            “So you’re going to go?” Sam asked. The two of them were hanging out at the park, waiting for Tucker to join them.

            “It doesn’t look like I have a choice.”

            “What are you going to wear?”

            Danny raised an eyebrow.

            “What, it’s a legitimate question. The letter said the dress code was formal,” Sam said defensively.

            “I was planning on going as Danny Phantom. Since the hazmat suit is part of the package, I didn’t bother to think of anything else.”

            “Oh.” Pause. “But they said no ‘hero garb.’”

            “Uh-huh.”

            “Meaning no hazmat suits.”

          Danny wasn’t too sure where she was going with this. What was wrong with hazmat suits? Oh, fudge hamsicles. He’d been spending way too much time around his parents. His brow furrowed. “What else can I wear? I’m pretty sure a white T-shirt, jeans and red sneakers don’t count as formalwear.”

            Sam rolled her eyes. “A tux, obviously.”

            Danny failed to see how that was obvious. It must have shown on his face, because Sam rolled her eyes again. “Haven’t you ever watched the Oscars?”

            “Uh, _no_. And since when do you watch the Oscars? Isn’t that too mainstream for you?” Tucker answered for him.

            “Hey Tuck. How was the speech?” Danny said in welcome.

          Tucker dropped down next to them, shaking the last of the red, white and blue confetti off of his head. “Ugh, if I have to go talk to _one_ more elementary school about the importance of doing your civic duty by voting, I’m going to jump off a cliff.”

            “Wow, elementary. Got to get ’em started young, huh?”

            “Danny, voting is the single best way to make sure your voice is heard. It’s important,” Sam huffed.

            “Yep, that’s what I told ’em. I don’t think anyone was listening though. I saw a lot of lovely little smartphones out in the audience.”

            Sam rolled her eyes yet again. “Careful, Sam, you’ll get a cramp,” Danny teased.

            “I wouldn’t be surprised, spending so much time with you two geniuses.”

            They all laughed. After a pause, Sam picked up where they left off earlier. “Anyway, Danny we need to get you a tux asap. Let me make a few calls.”

            “Uh, okay. Thanks, Sam. I think.”

 ***

The day of the IDHA arrived. Danny was in his room wearing a sleek, classic tuxedo, complete with bow tie, and feeling absolutely ridiculous.

            “Smile,” Sam commanded. He made a face as she snapped a photo with her phone. “Come on, Danny.” He relented, and she took another picture. “Perfect.”

            “Do I really have to wear this?” He pulled at the collar, trying to loosen it.

            “Yes. In fact, you should wear tuxedos every day,” Sam answered, blushing faintly.

            “Excuse me while I go barf,” said Tucker.

            Sam ignored him. “So when is it going to be?”

            “Should be any time now. I found the letter between two and three last Saturday.”

            Sam’s eyes were serious. Danny instinctively inclined himself toward her. “Be careful, Danny.”

            “Yeah, man. Just because these Hero Awards do exist, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a trap.”

            Danny smiled, trying to reassure them. “Don’t worry. I’ll be – ”

            Suddenly he was no longer in his room with his two best friends. Instead, he was in a grand entrance hall surrounded by well-dressed strangers (and some of them were very strange indeed), facing three sets of ornate bronze doors.

            “ – fine?” he finished, his stomach doing a dreadful little flip.

 ***

“Danny? You still here?” said Sam. He didn’t answer. He must have already been transported to the secret dimension.

            “I guess that’s it,” said Tucker.

            They waited a few seconds. Seconds turned into a minute. Sam tried to control her breathing. A minute wasn’t very long. Maybe the ceremony had gone on longer than anticipated.

            When a full five minutes had passed, she looked up at Tucker to see the same stricken look that must be on her face.

***

**AN:** Thank you for reading!

I'll be posting the rest over the next few weeks. If you don't want to wait, it's already up on FFn under the same username (scarletsnapdragon). The differences between this version and that one shouldn't be too big, mostly just word choice but I reserve the right to fix some of the rougher patches a bit more as I post here.


	2. Networking

“Welcome!” a girl with a mass of curly red hair and a Scottish accent proclaimed from in front of the doors. She was standing on a bench so everyone could see her. “On behalf of all life in the known planes of existence, let me be one of the first to congratulate you all on being a part of the 40,794th annual Inter-Dimensional Hero Awards. Your service is vital to the continued survival of all that is good and decent in all the worlds. Thank you!

            “Now, in just a moment, we’ll begin seating you. You’re the first wave of heroes to arrive tonight, so you’ll have to wait a bit before the ceremony begins. But fear not!” The redhead gesticulated so wildly she was in danger of falling off the bench. One of the guys in the front of the crowd, another redhead with long, lean muscles running up and down his arms, righted her gallantly. “Thank you! See, this is what I’m talking about. This is why we appreciate you all so much. But I digress.

            “As I was saying, we’ve prepared plenty of food and drink from all of your homelands, as well as a performance to keep you entertained while you wait. We also encourage you to network with other heroes seated nearby, whether they be from your home dimension or not. You never know when you might fall through a wormhole and need a helping hand!

            “So eat, drink, be merry and remember to turn off all inter-dimensionally capable communication devices. Now, was there anything else? Oh yes, please be courteous to all other attendees. Epic brawls will not be tolerated.” She death-glared a colorful, extremely fashion-forward group of teens (and three flying cats? wow, this place was weird) off to the left before wrapping up. “Enjoy the ceremony!”

            The bronze doors opened wide and ushers of all shapes and sizes began showing people to their seats. Danny moved with the crowd, uncertain whether to try to engage anyone around him in conversation. Most people were already chattering in small pockets. He wondered if they’d known each other beforehand or were just that sociable.

            As he approached the doors, he could see a little of the room beyond. It was a vast, classy hall filled with round tables. When it was his turn to be seated, he saw that it was bigger than he could have imagined and round, with a slowly rotating stage in the center. High above the tables were three concentric rings of big screens, currently blank, with no apparent support of any kind.

            His table was mid-way between the stage and the entrance. There were already two people seated at it, the muscle-bound teen who’d helped the Scottish-accented girl earlier and a slighter boy wearing glasses. They were both dressed outlandishly, the bigger one in a white sheet-looking thing with gold trim and the slighter in a set of green wizard’s(?) robes.

            “Hi,” he said shyly, holding out a hand to the closest boy, the slighter one. “My name’s Danny.”

            “Pleased to meet you, I’m Harry,” he replied very Britishly, smiling. They shook hands.

            He turned to the other kid, who half-rose out of his seat to reach over Harry and nearly break the bones in Danny’s hand (that is, if he had bones as a ghost; he wasn’t entirely sure, since he’d never broken any in his decidedly _not_ bone-friendly fights). “And I’m Hercules, hero-in-training.” He would have sounded extremely pompous if he wasn’t so nervous.

            Danny flexed his fingers a bit to make sure they hadn’t lost any mobility. “I thought you were ancient?”

          Harry chuckled and Hercules sighed. “Yeah, I get that a lot at these things. It turns out there was some jerk in a bunch of parallel dimensions with the same name as me.”

            “Sadly that actually makes a lot of sense. I’ve had some experience with dimension hopping.”

            “You mean other than for this event?” Harry asked.

          “Yep.” He was internally debating whether telling them about the Infi-map was feasible or too convoluted to be worth the effort, when a new hero was directed to their table.

            “Here you are, sir,” an usher said stiffly to the air.

            The air must have said something back to him because he added, “Ah, that’s right. Heroes of table 126, Jack Frost is about to join you. I assure you that he is real.”

            A lanky teen who was not following the dress code by any stretch of the imagination materialized. Instead of a tux or his world’s equivalent he had opted for a blue hoodie, skinny pants and a crook. Maybe he was a shepherd who’d saved his sheep from a pack of werewolves?

            The new guy sat down next to Danny, grinning. “Nice hair,” he said.

            “Likewise. I’m Danny.”

            “Jack.”

            “Harry.”

            “Hercules.”

            “Any of you ever been to one of these mandatory little shindigs before?” asked Jack.

          “I was here last year,” said Harry. “It’s all very straightforward. We sit and talk until everyone’s arrived, then the host starts the ceremony. There should be a program next to your place setting.”

            “Thanks.” Jack picked up the thick booklet. “Ugh, sounds long and boring,” he complained. “Anybody up for an escape?”

            “It’s actually not so bad. Most of it’s really interesting,” said Hercules.

            “You’ve been here before too?”

          “Yeah. This is my fourth time,” he answered glumly. Danny was about to ask him why the sad Sally face when the last two members of their table, a boy in a tuxedo and a girl wearing a dress the color of the sky around a full moon, were brought over.

            “Korra,” the girl introduced herself, shaking hands all around the table. “It’s nice to meet you all.” she said, sitting next to Jack (who they’d already verified the existence of for the newcomers).

           “Percy,” the boy said, following her lead. He and Hercules, who’d met last year, greeted each other enthusiastically. When he got to Danny and Jack he asked, “Dude, are you twins?”

            “Nope,” said Danny. 

           “But you totally look alike. And you’re both cold, like a couple of air conditioners.” Danny looked at Jack again. To him the differences were obvious, though he had to admit there were similarities too. “Are you sure you’re not even distantly related?” Percy asked suspiciously, taking the remaining seat between Korra and Hercules.

            “I’m pretty sure. This isn’t exactly what I looked like before the accident where I got my powers,” Danny replied.

            “That’s funny, I didn’t look like this when I was human either.”

            “Wait, are you a ghost too? You don’t set my ghost sense off.”

            “Nah, I think I’m some kind of winter spirit who guards fun. Probably. You’re a ghost?”

            “Half-ghost, actually. I switch back and forth between ghost and human.”

            “That’s pretty cool. What about you?” he asked Korra.

            “I’m the avatar.” When the boys all looked nonplussed, she explained, “In my dimension, I’m the bridge between the spirit world and the physical world. Plus I can do all kinds of awesome stuff with water, earth, fire and air.”

            “Sweet,” said Percy. “My turn: Hi, I’m Percy and I’m a half-blood. My dad’s the god of the sea. Cuz?”

            “Hercules, son of Zeus, and NOT the jerk that some of you may have heard of by the same name.”

            Everyone looked expectantly at Harry, who gulped. “Uh, I’m Harry, Harry Potter. I’m a wizard.”   

            Introductions taken care of, the group splintered off into pairs. Danny found himself chatting with Harry, who he learned was a year younger than his fifteen. Together they determined that they were probably from the same dimension, or at least two very similar dimensions, as major world events and facts seemed to align. Except of course that Danny had never heard of real wizards, and Harry had a very different conception of ghosts.

            The lights dimmed, and conversations around the hall subsided. A gold droid appeared on the brilliantly illuminated stage and on the screens, accompanied by a shorter one that reminded Danny of a trash can. When he spoke, Danny understood his words as English, but since there were no interpreters that he could identify, he figured speakers of other languages must be hearing him in their native tongue. “Oh, uh – hail, heroes from all corners of the known universe and beyond! Thank you very much for your patience and understanding as we await your brothers and sisters in arms. We really are terribly sorry about the delay. However, I would like to take this opportunity to direct your attention to the plates before you. Simply name your desired meal and it will be delivered shortly. We’ll be getting underway with the ceremony within the hour. In the meantime, enjoy your meals and this performance of the Ryloth Grand Dance Troupe.”

            A few dozen neon-colored, scantily clad male and female dancers with twin tales coming out of their heads took the stage. Danny’s eyes widened. “Whoa,” he said, “Did they do this last year?”

            “No, last year it was a silent play by a bunch of cars that turned into gigantic robots. I didn’t get it,” Harry answered.

            There was a dramatic pause, during which the dancers posed provocatively. Danny was sure he would be blushing furiously if he were in his human form, but as a ghost it probably wasn’t noticeable. The dancers started swaying and jumping around the stage in sync, accompanied by sultry music. More than a little embarrassed, Danny looked down at his plate, which brought up a whole new dilemma. He didn’t know what to do with all the different utensils. “Uh, double cheeseburger with fries. And orange soda,” he said to the tall-stemmed glass that didn’t already have water in it. Seconds later his meal popped into existence, no utensils necessary.

            Nice, he thought. It was pretty good too, albeit fancier than he was used to a cheeseburger tasting. He wondered where it came from and what it was made of. All around the table, the others were receiving their dinners too, all different. Some of them were _way_ different, like Percy’s all blue spaghetti and Jack’s mound of snowballs. The latter didn’t seem to be food so much as entertainment.

         “Hey guys, check this out!” Jack said with a glint in his eye. He juggled three of the snowballs and then pretended to lose control of one. It veered off at an impossible angle to hit a passing usher on the behind. It was the same one who’d escorted Jack to their table.

            The usher gathered himself up, puffy with righteous indignation. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to – ” _Splat!_ Another snowball connected, this one right on the nose. Danny thought he glimpsed a sparkle of blue, but he couldn’t be sure. A wide grin broke out across the usher’s face. “ – to share your snowballs with the rest of our guests.”

           “That’s an excellent idea. Plate, get me – ”

           “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen, Mr. Frost,” said a stern lady, probably the usher’s boss. “I’m revoking your plate privileges. Please try to behave yourself, or I’ll have to ask you to leave.” She shot a good glare around the table before stalking away towards a group of animals…that walked upright and wore clothes. There was a caped panda standing on their table with noodles all over him. Danny heard her tell him to get down.

           “Who died and made her dictator?” Korra muttered. “A snowball fight would have really livened this place up.”

            “Agreed,” pouted Jack. “I could’ve made this the snowball fight to end all snowball fights.”

            “You may still get the chance,” Harry said encouragingly. “There’s a party after the awards show that isn’t so stuffy.”

            By now the hall was getting near full and quite loud. There was the normal hum of a crowd chatting over the music of the performance (which only the older, more dignified heroes were paying any attention to; the event planners must have anticipated this, as their tables were situated closest to the stage), but there were frequent bangs and splashes and cracks too. It seemed heroes tended to be a boisterous bunch. The dictator lady and her army of frazzled ushers were hard-pressed to keep all the isolated incidents of mayhem from escalating into generalized chaos.

            Danny finished his dinner and picked up the booklet (really more of a magazine) next to his plate. It was thick, with page after page after page of names on the honoree list interspersed with images depicting the year’s heroics. Danny found his name, and his stomach gave a half-embarrassed, half-proud little lurch. On the next page, among others, were some pictures of him fighting ghosts, chiefly Vlad. He looked a lot cooler in the pictures than he felt in real life. He wondered how in all of creation they’d managed to get those. At least he wasn’t in his underwear in any of them. The last third of the booklet was dedicated to the nominees for each category, offering a short bio and more pictures. He noted that some of his tablemates were nominated, though none in his category.

            The music ended and the lights dipped almost completely for a second. When they came back, the dancers were gone, replaced once again by the gold droid and his short companion. Fanfare trumpeted throughout the hall, signaling the start of the show.


	3. Hero of the Year

“Good evening, everyone! And welcome to the 40,794th annual Inter-Dimensional Hero Awards. I am your host, C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, and this is my astromech counterpart R2-D2.” The astromech droid beeped cheerfully in greeting. “We would like to start off by once again extending to you our whole-hearted gratitude for the incredible feats you have accomplished this year in the name of Good. Your actions directly contribute to the safety of countless innocents across all existence, and it is for that reason that you are honored this day.” He paused and a cheer rose up from the crowd. Danny clapped along with his tablemates.

            “To that end, we have collected a smattering of footage showcasing some of the finer moments of this year’s heroics. We only wish the Heroes could go on for the days, or even weeks, that it would take to honor each and every one of you properly.”

            “I sure don’t,” Jack muttered.

            Music played, lights shifted, and the screens flickered and began showing rapid-fire clips starring mostly unfamiliar heroes. There were only a few Danny recognized, the first of whom was Harry. In the clip, he was swimming with two people in his arms, one a boy about his age and the other a small girl. The real Harry was sitting so low in his seat he was practically a puddle on the floor.

            A few scenes later, he recognized Korra, eyes glowing, reaching down to touch a kneeling woman’s forehead, as if in benediction. He glanced over to see her smiling at the memory, unshed tears glistening in the low light. With that smile, those tears, he began to glimpse the true spirit of this event. All evening it’d seemed decidedly strange and sort of vain even, but now he could see the importance of celebrating the things they had done that really _mattered_. He didn’t know the story behind that scene, but he could tell it was deeply meaningful to Korra. Whatever she had done for that woman, it was emotional, it was extraordinary, and it was _right_.

            Their eyes met and he gave her the best encouraging smile he had in him. She nodded back, dashing away the tears, and Danny saw Jack squeeze her hand briefly before turning his attention back to the monitors. He watched the clips with far more attention now, acutely aware of the significance of the scenes. In the next one, a scrawny boy in a long brown vest held his hand out to a dragon, face averted and eyes shut tight. Danny remembered seeing the pair near his table. He looked over to where he thought they might be, and sure enough the dragon was sitting on the floor with a wing wrapped around the boy, who leaned his head against the dragon’s neck.

            The light shining down directly on the stage brightened again, illuminating C-3PO and R2-D2. “We will continue with the highlights throughout the show. For now, we move on to our first award of the evening. Here to present the Hero for the category Best Rookie, please welcome Arthur Pendragon, former winner in this category and once, current and future King of Camelot!”

            A groan came from the other side of Harry.

            “It’s okay, cuz. You’ll be a great hero one day, even if those rock-headed gorgons at the Committee can’t see it yet.”

            “Thanks, Percy,” Hercules replied miserably.

            Harry saw Danny looking over curiously. “This is Herc’s fourth time being nominated in this category, and it’s the only category you can only win once,” he explained.

            “Ouch,” Danny grimaced. Harry nodded.

            “…and the nominees are: Mission Vao of the Galactic Republic!” On one half of each screen, an unseen camera panned to a young, neon blue girl with two tails coming out of her head. She must be from Ryloth too. The crowd applauded as footage showing her rescuing a big hairy creature from a bunch of ugly piggy creatures played on the other half of each screen.

            “Uzumaki Naruto of Hidden Leaf Village!” A naked lady covered only by a thin jet of clouds blew a kiss at the camera while a battle between two kids, the victor the one with whiskers and blue eyes, played out beside her. Nosebleeds erupted throughout the hall.

            “Hercules of Athens!” There was Herc, smiling painfully on one side of the screen, and Herc, pulling a family out of their sinking home on the other. Hearty cheers went up from their table, led by Percy. Danny didn’t hear any of the other nominees over the murmuring of ‘good luck’ and ‘they’re idiots if they don’t pick you,’ and so on going around table 126.

            “The Hero for Best Rookie goes to – ” Arthur paused. The whole room waited with bated breath, especially Danny’s table. The dollopheaded king was obviously enjoying it too. “Sorry, I’m having a spot of trouble getting the envelop open. Here we go. For a long history of brave, selfless acts, culminating in his efforts to save the citizens of Atlantis City during its sinking, the Hero goes to – Hercules! Thanks to you, Hercules, no lives were lost that fateful day.”

            Hercules was dumbfounded. He only stood up because everyone else at the table stood up. Immediately, Danny and the others were on him, shaking hands and giving him manly hugs (except for Korra who gave him a real hug). When it became apparent that he was too stunned to move on his own, Percy shoved him towards the stage.

            “I-I-I don’t know what to say. This is my fourth time being nominated for this award, I can’t believe the Committee finally thinks I’m worthy of it. It’s humbling.” He was silent, overcome with emotion for a moment. “It’s my dream to become a true hero. There are times I don’t know if I’ll ever achieve it. But today I really feel like I’m on my way, like I can go the distance. I want to thank the Committee for that, and my trainer, Phil. Oh, and my parents, Zeus, Hera, Alcmene and Amphitrion, and my friends Icarus and Cassandra, for their support. And all of you as well for being an inspiration. Really, thank you.” He left the stage.

            When he made it back to his seat clutching the golden Hero, he was still pretty choked up. Percy and Harry clapped him on the back a few times to let him know they were with him.

            The next award that anyone at Danny’s table was up for was Best Quest, about halfway through the show. Still high off of Hercules’s victory, they raised a huge ruckus when Percy’s name was called out as a nominee. He didn’t win though. He said it was alright; the winner (a lean, muscular tomcat with fur the color of fire) deserved it.

            As they got closer to Best Hero – Junior Male, Danny started to get nervous. It wasn’t that he wanted the award. More like, the whole affair was getting to him. He was realizing how amazing every single entity in this huge, huge room was. Hercules had called winning the Hero humbling. To Danny just being invited was humbling enough, now that he knew what all these people did. It brought home the significance of what he himself had done as no other experience, no reluctant interview or public appearance or hyperventilating fan, had been able to.

            “And now, presenting the award for Best Hero in the category of junior male, Mr. Tony Stark, popularly known as Iron Man.”

            Danny was star struck. The rudiments of the speech he’d begun to put together in his head (just in case, cause really, how embarrassing would it be to fish-mouth in front of this crowd?) exploded into a million pieces. That was _Tony freaking Stark_ up there.

            “You don’t want to wait, and I don’t want to be up here any longer than absolutely necessary, so I’ll make this short and sweet,” Tony Stark said, already tearing at a corner of the envelop as his cue cards fluttered to the floor. “Nominees: Merlin, Camelot; Echdhitor, Jinudhartani; Natsu Dragneel, Magnolia; Gray Fullbuster, Magnolia; Danny Phantom, Amity Park. Winner: Danny Phantom, Amity Park, for protecting his town from ghosts and then uniting said ghosts to prevent an asteroid from destroying his planet.”

            No wonder Hercules hadn’t been able to move. Danny stood up woodenly, his tablemates patting and hugging and congratulating him. “Go on,” said Jack over the applause, grinning and shaking his hand. “You’re holding up the show.”

            On his way to the stage, Danny saw that the monitors were still rolling nominee footage; Tony Stark’s shenanigans must not have been accounted for by the people in charge of them. _Danny, focus_ , he said to himself. He had to come up with something coherent to say fast.

            And then he was on stage, and it was so bright and loud, and _Tony Stark_ _was_ _shaking his hand._ “Good job, kid.” Tony Stark was smiling, a genuine I’m-proud-of-you-even-though-I-don’t-know-you-because-you’re-one-of-us kind of smile. “Knock ’em dead,” he winked, handing the golden statuette over casually and exiting the stage.

            It was only the recent unwanted public exposure he’d been subjected to since the Disasteroid incident and hours of teenage introspection that saved him from making a complete fool of himself in front of the rock stars of the hero world. That being said, he still had a moment of sheer terror as he looked out over the crowd. (Also, he thought he heard someone shout “Fight me!” in thickly accented English but decided it must be his nerves playing tricks on him.)

            “Uh, hi.” He took a steadying breath and stared at a spot off in the distance, hurriedly gathering his thoughts. “I’ve never really thought of myself as hero material. In fact, for a while I resented the quirk of fate that made me half ghost. I even tried to get rid of my powers. But I’ve since come to realize – I’m needed, and that’s a lot more important than my own wishes. So I accept this award as a symbol of my resolve to do everything within my power to ensure the safety of the people of Amity Park and beyond. Thank you all for this honor. And thank you to my friends Tucker and Sam, my sister, Jazz, and I guess my parents even though they’re embarrassing. Oh, and Mr. Lancer for not being as hard on me as he could be for all the times I’ve had to run out and wallop ghosts,” Sensing that he’d entered rambling territory, he not-quite flew off the stage and back to his seat before he could make even more of a fool out of himself.

            “Congratulations, mate,” said Harry.

            “Thanks,” he replied, still giddy.

            There was another highlight reel after that. This time Danny picked out Jack wielding his staff against a sparkly black cloud. Evidently he had saved a bunch of children from the Boogeyman. Danny was slightly disappointed; the sheep and werewolves story was more colorful. Besides, sheep were cute and fuzzy. Who wouldn’t want to be their destined protector?

            When the lights came back this time, a decorated African American officer in a mess uniform was on stage and onscreen. All conversation ceased and the mood in the hall turned reverent. “And now, men – that is, heroes – please stand and join us as we honor our fallen, many of whom lost their lives in the line of duty.” Danny stood along with the others. Solemn music played and the lights dipped again. On the screens, names appeared beside images, followed by video. The last of the fallen heroes was identified as Commander John Shepard, a consummate soldier with intense eyes. Danny was overcome by the weirdest sense of déjà vu. There was something wrong with this, he shouldn’t be up there because…he was alive?

            Danny looked away to rid himself of the out of place thought. His blue eyes landed on a pair of large violet ones set into a pale face adorned by a gemstone that glittered black in the low light. They seemed to say that he wasn’t the only one who felt that Commander Shepard was alive. The look between them lasted several seconds before the girl broke contact. She turned away, and he recognized her indigo cloak and the other heroes seated around her; they were the junior awardees of the Hero for Best Team.

           The reel ended, the lights brightened and everyone was seated once again. Danny refocused just in time to see the Man of Steel himself take the stage. “Our fallen brothers and sisters will remain forever in our hearts, the memory of their strength and determination up until the very last a testament to the will of the Hero. May their lives of service and sacrifice continue to inspire us all, and may they rest easy knowing that we here keep the torch burning bright.

            “And so, we’ve arrived at the last award of the evening, Hero of the Year. In this category we recognize an individual who carries on the legacy of the Hero. All the nominees are phenomenal beings who have performed, and continue to perform, unmatched acts of valor that will have a lasting impact on countless lives. It is to them that whole worlds look in times of crisis. They are: Xitlali Ptalanovic of the Atlantean Empire; Thor Odinson of Asgard; Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 of the UNSC; Neo-Queen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo; and Queen Hippolyta of Themyscira.” After each name was called, an extended video sequence played on the monitors and the room thundered (mostly with applause, but also with some actual thunder courtesy of Thor).

            The anticipation in the crowd was palpable. Superman opened the envelop and stared for a moment. His jaw clenched and the paper crumpled in his fist.

            “Go on, tell them who the winner is, old friend,” boomed a voice over the hall. “No? Okay, I guess I’ll have to.” He cleared his throat. “And the winner of the 40,794th Hero of the Year Award is – Lex Luthor!” Harsh laughter echoed in the taut silence that had descended on the hall. “That’s me, for all of you slower heroes.

            “Now here’s the deal; every year you naïve bozos have this little get-together in your ‘secret’ dimension and party it up. Well guess what, we ‘villains’ have our own secret dimension. But, you know, we don’t get to celebrate at our convention like you sentimental clowns do. Instead we get to rehash the year’s foiled plans, jail time and self-esteem troughs. And it all comes back to you ‘heroes.’ So this year we decided it was time to do something about it.”

            “Whatever you’ve got up your sleeve, it’s not going to work, Lex. It never does.”

            “I will concede this one point: storming the front gates has never been very effective. But that’s why we took a little different approach this year. This year there aren’t any bombs or masked men with assault rifles, just a small group of highly talented infiltrators. They’ve already taken control of your event command center. As soon as I give the signal they’ll be scattering you all across the nastiest dimensions we know, dimensions, by the way, where time passes at various rates. Meaning time will be passing in your home dimensions at an unknown rate by comparison. Assuming you survive and find a way back, who knows how long you’ll have been gone and what could have happened in the interim?

            “And the best part is they’re going to do it using the time and space manipulation technology you developed to make your precious Hero Awards possible. Golden, isn’t it?” He laughed again. “Where do I come up with this stuff? Anyway, I just gave the signal. Have fun in hell.”

* * *

 

**AN:** Thank you for reading!

When I originally posted this over at FFn I asked readers for their cameo requests, so that's how we ended up with Naruto, Hiccup, the Teen Titans, Firestar and Commander Shepard. I'm not overly familiar with some of them, so I hope I didn't mishandle any of these beloved characters too terribly. If I did, I apologize!

Again, if you really want to just finish reading this now, the completed story is posted under scarletsnapdragon on FFn. I don't intend to make any significant changes as I transfer it over here. I just like AO3's formatting and editing features better ;-)


	4. Even the Air Wants to Kill Us

The first impression Danny had of the world he and his tablemates had been transported to was of sickly greenish yellow vegetation. Then he took a breath out of habit and nothing but the searing pain in his lungs registered. He dropped to his knees and stopped breathing, clutching his chest and coughing uncontrollably. He knew had to stop coughing so his lungs could have a chance to repair, but his body wouldn’t obey him.

            He heard the others hacking and Jack panicking because he couldn’t help them. _Come on, Danny, they need you_. It took an enormous amount of counter-instinctive effort, but he managed to stop the noxious air from invading his lungs.

            With his own body under control, he looked through stinging eyes to his asphyxiating companions. Grasping at the only thing he could think to try, Danny split himself into four and over-shadowed Harry, Hercules, Percy and Korra. For a moment he was terrified that he’d pushed himself too far and would dissipate like water under pressure. The strain was incredible, but he used his drive to save them as an anchor for his sense of self.

            He willed them all to not breathe, sustaining them with his own life force. It was the single most taxing thing he’d ever done on his own, and within seconds he felt his split consciousness taking a backseat to four other consciousnesses. _Don’t force me out, I’m trying to help_ , he thought at them, the last coherent thought he was able to scrape together before devoting every ounce of his will to keeping their bodies functional.

            He went into a sort of trance state. Distantly, he was aware of the bodies he was inhabiting talking urgently and moving. At some point one part of his consciousness was washed in a blinding radiance, then another tingled. _We’re safe now_ , a ‘voice’ that he perceived as female thought at him, _Get out, before there’s nothing left of you_.

            He snapped out of them and back into one entity. Faces were spinning all around him as he collapsed against two sets of arms. They lowered him onto a bed of snow he was sure hadn’t been part of the alien landscape before. He knew they were talking to him, but the words didn’t have any definite shape or meaning. The only one he could distinguish out of the muddle of sound was his name.

            Exhausted, he closed his eyes against the blaze of white light coming from his waist.

 ***

When Danny came to the sun, so like his own, was setting. He sat up and the others converged on him, except for Hercules and Percy who stood a little apart from the group, tensely watching the planet’s tree analogs (mile high pole-like stems with tufts of foliage at the top). “What did I miss?” he croaked. “And how come I can breathe?” He accepted a water skin from Korra and sipped.

            “After you disappeared, Korra filtered the toxic elements out of the air around us and Harry made a big bubble to keep them from getting back in. The edge of the air bubble is just outside the ring of snow I put down to mark it. It hasn’t been very long since then. Or at least we don’t think it has,” Jack answered. He looked grave, not at all the carefree mischief-maker from the Hero Awards. Harry and Korra’s faces were serious too.

            “How do you feel?” asked Korra.

            Danny mentally assessed himself. “Uh, kinda shaky, but nothing hurts.”

            “That’s good. We were worried about you.”

            “You saved our lives, mate,” Harry said solemnly. “Thank you.”

            “Something tells me there’s going to be a lot of saving going around,” he answered. “So what now?”

            “We don’t know,” said Korra. “We talked and talked, but we haven’t been able to come up with a way to get back to our worlds. I even tried tapping into the spirit world, but I can’t access it from here. For now the plan is to survive.”

            “In that case, it looks to me like we’re doing a pretty good job so far,” he said, aiming to lighten the mood. It didn’t work. “What do we know about this place?”

            “You mean besides the fact that the air wants to kill all you breathers? Next to nothing. I went up above the trees to take a look, but all I saw was canopy and a few bird-sized bug things, no buildings of any kind,” said Jack, “Which doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

            Danny peered into the woods in dismay, wondering what could be out there. He figured there wasn’t much chance of it being friendly; that Lex Luthor guy would have made sure every world the heroes were sent to was hostile in the extreme. Speaking of other worlds, what about his own? Were the ghosts wreaking havoc now that he wasn’t there to send them back to the Zone? Had Vlad somehow managed to get back to Earth? Were his friends and family okay? Oh man, the mood in the camp was getting to him. This kind of thinking wasn’t going to help anyone.

            He thought back over his adventures in the Ghost Zone. Maybe they’d get lucky and a temporary portal would spontaneously open between this world and the Zone? Probably not, he thought dismally. And there was no way they’d be able to build a stable portal, not without the proper tools and materials. If only he could open portals himself, like Wulf…and Dan.

            Thinking about Dan always made Danny uncomfortable. He didn’t want to be _anything_ like that psycho, but he had to acknowledge that some part of him had been a part of Dan as well. Could that power be one of the things that came from the Danny Phantom half and not the Vlad Plasmius half? It could, he decided. Vlad was a lot older than him, his powers were unlikely to continue to develop, but Danny was still a teenager with plenty of time left to grow. He felt a bubble of hope expanding inside…only to pop almost immediately. Even if he would eventually develop that power, he didn’t have it yet. Besides it might not even work in this dimension, just like Korra’s ability to cross over to her spirit world hadn’t worked.

            Hercules’s voice put a welcome end to his negative thoughts. “You guys should try to sleep. We need to get up at dawn, whenever that is, to start looking for food and a way out of this place.”

            Danny doubted anyone would sleep particularly soundly, but they all agreed to try.

            “I’ll take the next watch, whenever you get tired.” Harry volunteered.

            “Me too,” Korra added. “That way I can filter some more air before we start to run out.”

            “Then I guess it’s us air conditioners after that,” said Jack.

 ***

Shouting and bizarre screeches broke Danny out of a dead sleep. In seconds he was airborne, suppressing his lingering weakness and firing ectorays down at a floating purple blob. The thing was huge…or so he thought until pieces of it detached and flew at him. Then he mostly just thought, _Eww_.

            He blasted almost all of the star-shaped creatures before they got to him, the ectoplasm of his attacks devouring them like some grotesque delicacy. A pair managed to get through and wrapped themselves around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. Acid ate through his suit to the skin, and he screamed out in both pain and fear.

            All of a sudden a curious tingling sensation, sort of like the sensation of ectorays powering up, replaced the pain and the things started screeching in their own turn. They pushed off from his abdomen, desperate to get away, but ectoplasm from Danny’s flesh engulfed them and his earlier weakness was banished. Apparently evil starfish tasted really good to ectoplasm. Danny, however, retched and clawed at his stomach, freaked the _hell_ out.

            The things avoided him after that. They must have some sort of communication faculty or perhaps a hive mind. Instead they concentrated on the others. Danny helped out from as far a distance as the air bubble would allow. He was _not_ going near any of those things again.

            On one end of the bubble, Korra, Harry and Jack seemed to have things under control, with Jack providing air cover while Harry cast spell after spell and Korra shot flames at the blob. On the other end of it, a couple of the starfish attached themselves to Percy and he went down. Immediately dozens more mobbed him and Hercules. Danny flung a bathtub-sized ectoball at the mob, hoping ectoplasm didn’t like the taste of demigod too. It blanketed the starfish and glowed in frenzy before dispersing. Danny gagged.

            “You okay, Danny?” Percy called up to him. He jerked his head once in the affirmative, turning his attention to what was left of the blob.

            It was fleeing now, most of it already past the boundary of their camp. Korra launched one last volley after it and the air outside the dome exploded into flames. “Uh…oops.”

            Percy whistled appreciatively. “Sweet.”

* * *

 

 **AN:** Thank you for reading!


	5. The Wildlife Too

Outside the dome, the fire raged and raged. They were lucky Harry’s barrier disrupted it, keeping it from burning up their oxygen, but unfortunately the bubble did nothing to protect them from the blazing heat. Jack and Danny took turns creating ice to keep everyone from overheating.

            “Everybody alright?” Percy asked over the muffled roar of the fire.

            Danny touched his fingertips to the unmarked skin of his abdomen, troubled. He felt fine. More than fine, he felt refreshed and even a little buzzed, like he’d chugged a few gallons of coffee and they were just beginning to kick in. It must be the effect of ingesting (gag) those starfish. Should he tell the others about it? No. It was just too freaky and disgusting. “’M fine,” he muttered after Harry.

            Percy and Hercules had some nasty-looking acid burns, but Korra healed them with no trouble. “I don’t suppose anyone is going to be getting any more sleep tonight,” said Hercules. “Uh, if it is still night, that is.”

            “Not likely,” said Percy.

            “Is anybody else getting hungry?” Korra asked hesitantly.

            Danny thought about it and concluded in dismay that he wasn’t, or at least his ghost half didn’t need any ectoplasmic re-charging. As if the starfish incident weren’t disturbing enough already, he realized that he had actually derived nourishment from the alien creatures. He wondered why. Maybe they were composed of elements found in the Zone? Where did that leave his human half? If he switched forms, would he be starving?

            “Definitely,” came Hercules’s voice, drawing Danny’s attention back to the discussion. “But how are we going to know what’s safe to eat in this place?”

            None of them had an answer.

            “I say we head towards water. There’s something that, uh – smells (?) – kind of like the oceans back home somewhere over that way,” said Percy, pointing. “There might be something we can eat in the water or near it. Besides, anywhere is better than this oven.”

            With no other ideas on the table, they agreed to give it a try. “Do you think the bubble will move with us, Harry?”

            “I reckon it will, so long as I keep re-casting it from time to time. But just in case, I think I should cast Bubble-Head Charms on everyone as well. ”

            “Go for it.”

            When Harry was done charming them, Jack snorted with laughter. “You should see yourselves. It’s like you’re all going to a fishbowl theme party.” Danny had to admit he was right.

            “Alright, then. Let’s move out,” said Percy in a voice that sounded like it came from far away. The group followed his lead. “If you’ve got any kind of water powers, be ready to use them in case the fire gets in.”

            Their only guide as they walked was Percy’s gut. Outside the dome all they could see was fire, no sun or landmarks. The air must be incredibly flammable, meaning the ‘trees’ must be incredibly fire-proof to have grown so tall. _Mom and Dad would_ love _to study this place_ , Danny thought with a pang. He wondered once again how they were doing, how long he’d been gone. Surely more than the few seconds posited in the letter from the IDHA. Tucker and Sam would be majorly freaked out by now.

            “Hey, Danny, you feeling okay?” asked Jack, dropping back to where Danny was bringing up the rear. “You were pretty wiped out earlier.”

            “I’m alright. I – ” He considered telling him about the starfish, but a wave of shame stopped him. “My ghost half is pretty efficient. And rechargeable too.” He didn’t add that he needed ectoplasm to recharge. Or starfish from hell.

            “Convenient.”

            “Yeah.” He paused. “What about you? You doing okay in this heat?”

            “I can’t say it’s been particularly fun, but I’m coping. Winter is always inside me, no matter what the weather outside is doing. It helps that I got some sleep last night too.”

            “You sleep?”

            “You don’t? Kidding. Yeah, I sleep, sometimes. Usually in the spring and fall.”

            Danny smirked. “I guess all that nipping at noses gets tiring.”

            “Probably not as tiring as haunting people and holding grudges,” Jack countered. They both laughed.

            The silence that followed was a companionable one. They walked on, and after what felt like hours the group passed the last of the sputtering flames. From there the going was easier for all of them.

            Outside the bubble the scenery hadn’t changed much, except that the woods were thinning out and it was daylight. Occasionally they glimpsed strange animals. Once, they saw a deer-sized yellow creature with green splotches sniff the air in their general direction before fleeing. “I guess we don’t smell very good,” said Harry.

            “That’s a relief. I’m used to smelling like monster snacks,” said Percy.

            “We’re probably poisonous to the locals,” Danny speculated.

            “Uh, guys,” said Herc. “Tell that to him.”

            Their eyes followed the line of his pointing finger. A scaly mint green creature the size of a bus with cement-colored spikes sticking out of its hide was barreling towards them from the left. Its body was shaped sort of like a giant rhino, with the temper to match. Danny and Jack leapt into the air, peppering it ineffectually with ice and ectoplasm. On the ground Harry and Korra were adding their own attacks, but they all bounced off of its scales.

            Harry managed to land a spell in its eye. It shook its head angrily, then its whole body, releasing a barrage of spikes in all directions. Danny went intangible. He was relieved to see the others dodge successfully.

            Below him, Hercules sprang up from a roll and ran at the creature head on. Danny wasn’t sure whether to admire his courage or shake his head at the sheer stupidity of a frontal assault. He settled on admiration when Herc punched it on the snout, knocking it back ten feet. Percy rushed in to help, brandishing a flickery bazooka (?).

            Danny and the others concentrated on the beast’s eyes while Herc and Percy wore it down by tag-teaming it. Finally, the thing had had enough and turned to flee. Hercules gave it a last mighty kick, sending it flying high into the air. They all watched it sail far, far away.

            “Dude, you’re strong,” said Danny.

            “Abnormally so,” added Harry.

            “Uh, yeah,” Hercules laughed shyly.

            “That’s my cousin!” said Percy, clapping him on the back.

            They resumed their trek, less shaken by this encounter than by the blob incident.

 ***

As the day wore on, the woods gave way to a white sand beach and shimmering blue-green water.

            “Wow, this place is gorgeous!” said Korra in awe.

            Percy was smiling, a layer of tension having melted away at the sight of the ocean. He waded in (against everyone else’s better judgment) and stood knee-deep for several long moments. Finally he turned back and rejoined them at the shoreline, keeping his feet in the surf. “There’s a freshwater river delta not far from here. We can wash up there and maybe find some food.”

            Percy led them to the swift-moving channels of the delta and then upriver to a calmer spot. The touch of the cool, clear water on Danny’s (now human) feet was like the kiss of a friend. He couldn’t imagine how much more palpable the relief must be for Percy. Or Korra for that matter. Cleanliness seemed to be on par with breathing to most of the girls he knew, and Korra was no exception, if the look of ecstasy on her face after she washed it was any indicator.

            Once back in his human form, Danny became aware of two things. He was really hungry. And he really, really, _really_ needed to go to the bathroom. He slipped off hoping no one would notice, especially Korra. At the edge of the bubble he quietly tipped off Jack, who was on guard duty, that he would be gone for a short while. He felt absolutely ridiculous but otherwise much better when he returned, though still hungry.

            He noticed an opaque curtain of steam at the far end of the dome and the boys keeping well away from it. Korra was nowhere in sight, which probably meant she was on the other side of the steam. Danny blushed and dropped down into the water to hide it. Though the water felt just like it did on Earth, he was careful not to swallow any of it.

            There were small fish-like creatures swimming around his feet but otherwise ignoring him. Most of them were the gold-gray color of the riverbed. Twice he saw a bright flash of red and blue. In nature, bright colors usually meant poison. Er, that is, they did on Earth. Should he say something? His companions didn’t strike him as scientifically inclined enough to know that, though most of them were almost certainly outdoorsy enough.

            An unnatural tidal wave hit him where he stood looking down into the water in concern. He whipped around to see where it had come from, brain already in crisis mode. His attacker turned out to be a grinning Percy, not the nightmarish killer octopus he was imagining.

            “Lighten up, Danny. It’s just a little water.”

            Danny smirked and fired an ectoray at him. Percy let out a garbled cry that Danny translated provisionally as “Eww!”

            “Just a little ectoplasmic goo, Percy. It’ll wash off.”

            From then on it was war. Jack joined in exuberantly, launching snowballs from atop his staff. Harry was drawn in much more reluctantly, but Danny could tell he was having fun by the gleeful way he shouted _tarantallegra_ as he pointed his wand at random. They all were, until Hercules ducked triumphantly out of the way of one of Jack’s snowballs and it sailed through the steam curtain.

            “Yaaargh! That was cold! You’re all dead!” Dozens of pebbles rose out of the water and started pelting them. Danny yelped and splashed towards the closest bank as fast as his dancing legs would take him, Percy, Hercules and Harry on his heels. Jack cackled in the background. They all collapsed just outside the water, Percy holding his sides laughing.

            Hercules looked a little guilty. “Gosh, I didn’t mean to bother Korra.”

            “Don’t worry about it, Herc. She’ll live,” said Percy.

            Harry undid the dancing hex on Danny and they dried off (thank you intangibility and sea god genes), got dressed and settled down to wait for Korra. Before long the curtain of steam moved to the spot where she’d left her clothes. A fully dressed Korra stepped out of the mist, letting it dissipate. She looked mildly grumpy but it was just a façade. Underneath the grumpy pout she was smiling.

            “I’m sorry about the snowball, Korra,” said Hercules, face downcast, when she came to sit with them.

            “Hey, don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault.” She turned to glare at Jack. “You, on the other hand, are on my list.”

            “I look forward to our rematch,” said Jack with a cocky smirk.

            Korra’s eyes sparkled. “Well, you won’t have to wait long,” she said, holding up her own snowball.

            “Settle down, kids,” said Percy. Korra dropped her snowball and Jack pouted. “Now, who wants to volunteer to try some of the fish from the river?”

            For a second no one spoke up. Then Harry yelped and shook his right foot violently. A red-blue blur darted away. “That thing bit me!” He held up his foot, the big toe bleeding.

            “I say we eat the little red and blue things if Harry’s still alive in ten minutes,” said Danny, after a dreadful pause.

            “I don’t follow,” said Harry, glancing at his foot nervously.

            “Well, poisonous animals advertise their deadliness using colors that stick out to avoid becoming lunch, so I think it’s safe to assume that guy’s poisonous,” Danny explained.

            Harry looked even more alarmed. “I fail to see how that’s a good thing for any of us.”

            “If he’s poisonous to the locals, maybe that means he’s not poisonous to us, since we’re probably made up of different chemicals than this world’s natural predators. The only way we’ll know for sure is if you don’t die. So don’t die, Harry,” said Danny. His expression turned serious. “Really, though, don’t die. If you start to feel anything unusual, let us know and we’ll do whatever it takes to get the venom out.”

            Harry gulped and nodded. “I’ve been poisoned before. If I feel at all like I did then, I’ll say something.”

            They waited in tense silence, all eyes on Harry’s toe. Several minutes streamed by and nothing happened. “Do you reckon that’s long enough?” Harry finally asked.

            They all looked at Danny. He wasn’t really sure, but they needed to eat something. “Let’s catch a few and see what they smell like cooked. If they smell good, it’s probably okay to eat them. Things that aren’t good for us smell bad. Like broccoli.”

            “Dude, broccoli _is_ good for you. Supposedly,” said Percy.

            “It is, but only if it’s not starting to rot. Rotting broccoli becomes very toxic, which is why it smells so gross and little kids, who are more vulnerable to toxins, often refuse to eat it.” He paused before adding self-consciously, “I like science. It’s the only thing I’m pretty decent at in school.”

            Korra healed Harry’s toe, and the group headed back over to the water to hunt for little red and blue things. They turned out to be salamander-like creatures, about the length of Danny’s palm, that were infuriatingly fast, but by the time the sun was directly overhead, they had a little pile of them. The boys gathered sticks and Korra roasted the salamanders on them.

            “Here goes nothing,” said Danny, taking a bite. The taste was strange but not unpleasant.

            “Well?” said Jack. Danny looked at him askance. “What? So I don’t eat. Can’t I be a little curious?”

            “Chewy. With a salty aftertaste,” Danny answered, “You guys wait a little while before trying them, just in case.”

            Korra handed him her water skin. He took it gratefully then passed it on around the circle. When he didn’t start convulsing or turning green, the rest of them dug in, except for Jack.

            “These really aren’t too bad,” said Harry, smiling at some memory. “I’ve eaten much worse.”

 _But they’ll get old quick_ , Danny thought. This couldn’t go on and they all knew it. Having a goal had been reviving, but now that the goal was fulfilled, it only served to underscore the untenability of their current situation, at least for Danny. This world was not where any of them belonged, and the worlds where they did belong needed them.

            His appetite gone, Danny stood up, breaking the circle. “I’m going up to take a look around.” He went ghost and pushed off from the ground.

 ***

“Sir, we’ve been monitoring a disturbance on ZL0183-16 and have determined that it needs your attention.”

            “The biopreserve? What kind of disturbance?”

            “A temporary dimensional rip, sir, followed by a fire that spread over half of one of the smaller equatorial landmasses before burning out. We have reason to believe it was not of natural origin.”

            “You think the two events are related?”

            “We have no doubts, sir. Something came through the rip and set the fire. In this file you’ll find all the relevant data readings and images we’ve obtained from ZL0183-16’s orbital command center.”

            “Close the parks and send a security team up to investigate. If they find something intriguing, I want it brought back for further evaluation. If it’s dangerous, I want it eliminated.”

            “Yes, sir.”

            “You haven’t left yet?”

            “Sir, what if it’s both?”

            “Then I’ll handle the matter personally.”

* * *

 

 **AN:** Thank you for reading! It really means a lot to me that y'all are sticking with this story even past the Hero awards. A big virtual hug for all of you who've made it this far. I love you!

Also, the place our heroes are at is actually one of a number of small moons orbiting a planet that is completely urbanized. Most of the moons have been colonized and terraformed to support agriculture and preserve the planetary system's wildlife. Danny and the others haven't come across any campers or tourists yet, but there are public parks scattered around the moon.

Again, thanks for reading :-)


	6. And Don't Even Get Me Started on the Neighbors

The view from the air was as breathtaking as it was jarring. Danny’s heart squeezed at seeing such gloriously familiar features as the sun and glittering ocean set into a landscape dominated by trees that looked like rotten vegetables. He closed his eyes against the trees and held out his hand, gritting his teeth and trying with all his might to summon up the power to tear open a hole in the dimensional fabric between this world and his own.

            He felt…something. A sort of stirring that turned into a sharp stab of pain in his gut, as if he were ripping a part of himself open instead. Clutching his stomach, he gave it up. He must not be doing it right. Or there was nothing there to be doing anything with.

            “Danny, you alright?” came Jack’s voice, anxious.

            Danny opened his eyes. “I’m fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was...,” he hesitated, but Jack looked worried, no doubt thinking of the salamanders. Danny sighed. “I was trying to open a portal to my world. Some ghosts can do it.” He didn’t add that his evil future self in an alternative timeline was one of the few.

            Jack didn’t say anything, but Danny felt the question/accusation in his stare.

            “I would have taken you with me, if I had managed it,” Danny said, more vehement than he’d intended. He lowered his voice back to normal with some effort. “I didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up and then not be able to deliver. Besides, it was kind of spur of the moment.”

            “Sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you. Everyone else would be dead and I’d be here alone if it weren’t for you. I don’t like being alone.” There was a vulnerability to him when he said it, like he’d already endured more aloneness than one person should have to.

            Danny sighed again, the last bit of fight draining out of him. “Don’t worry about it, man. We’re all stressed out and on edge. It probably doesn’t help that we haven’t really known each other for very long, either.”

            “Yeah.”

            Feeling awkward, Danny looked away towards the ocean.

            “Uh, what do you suppose that is?” Jack asked suddenly, pointing towards a streak hurtling out of the atmosphere.

            Danny looked. He could just make out an oblong metallic shape at its leading end. “I don’t know, but odds are it’s not very nice,” he said, already losing altitude.

           Back on the ground, Korra, Hercules, Percy and Harry were talking quietly about their respective home worlds. Danny’s somber expression brought the conversation to a halt

            “What’s wrong?” Percy asked, standing immediately. The others rose behind him.

            “We saw something coming out of the sky. It may be nothing, but we can’t take that chance,” said Jack.

            “No, especially not after the welcoming committee last night and Spikey this morning,” said Percy. “Do you know where it is now?”

            “It looked like it was coming down around the place we landed,” said Danny. Foreboding rippled through the teens. The implication was obvious; it was here for them.

            “We could hide, maybe in the ocean…” Percy trailed off, clearly not very fond of the idea. “Or we can take a closer look.”

            Danny nodded grimly. That was precisely what he was thinking. If this thing really came from space like he suspected, maybe it could get them out of here. Any hope after no hope.

            Hercules saw the determined steel creeping into Percy’s and Danny’s eyes. “Whoa, hold on a minute, guys. I’m not sure going anywhere near that thing is a good idea. We don’t even know what it is or where it came from.”

            “I don’t like the idea of hiding, but I think Hercules has a point. We can’t rush into this,” said Korra.

            “I can check it out for all of us,” Danny offered. “I’ll go invisible and fly over. Whatever it is won’t even know I’m there.”

            “No,” said Percy. “No separating, not when we don’t have any way to communicate.”

            “I can go with Danny,” Harry put in. “If it’s safe, I’ll send up green sparks and you lot can come meet us.”

            “No, guys. Percy’s right, splitting up is a really bad idea. I should know,” Jack said, face dark with memory.

            “And standing here arguing is an even worse idea!” Korra said urgently. “That thing could be heading right for us and we’re sitting ducks!”

            “Korra’s right, we have to make a decision,” said Percy, “All in favor of taking a closer look?”

            Percy put up his hand, and Danny and Harry followed suit immediately. Jack and Korra hesitated before adding their votes.

            Hercules sighed.“Alright. But I don’t like this.”

 ***

Even invisible, the armed humanoids found the heroes long before they even got close to the landing spot.

            They were passing through the place where Hercules had kicked the minty rhino’s butt, spikes and scars littering the ground, when the hairs on the back of Danny’s neck rose eerily and goose bumps broke out up and down his arms. Before he could say anything, something small attached to his back and electricity slammed into him. He and his companions went rigid and hit the ground.

            Danny thought he was talking, though he couldn’t hear anything over the screaming of his own nerve endings. It went on seemingly for miles, before abruptly coming to a dead end. He heard the others cursing and the wind howling, punctuated by the thud of bodies. He sat up just in time to see the last of the five attackers in body armor bounce off a tree and lay still. Jack and Korra stood protectively over the others, Korra illuminated by a rapidly fading halo of light.

             Korra helped Danny to his feet and he in turn gave Harry a hand. Together they approached one of the black-clad figures cautiously, Harry’s wand out and Danny’s hands glowing green. They weren’t just humanoid; they looked human behind the glass face plates of their helmets. Weird.

            “Keep your eyes open, everyone. We have to assume there’re more of them out there,” said Percy.

 ***

They were jumpy the rest of the way, but nothing else threatened them before they made it to the spaceship. Harry stunned the lone guard (maybe the pilot?) from behind a tree. The heroes gathered around the ship, only Hercules facing away and scanning the trees for danger.

            It was made of an ultra smooth brownish metal and had odd curving lines all over it. Danny traced one of them, expecting it to respond by lighting up or peeling back or something. Beside him, Harry tried a spell, _alohomora_ it sounded like. A section of the ship soundlessly melted away from the tip of his wand, following one of the lines. Initially they all jumped backwards, ready to meet any type of attack with their own. No attack was forthcoming, however, as the interior was unmanned. They were greeted instead by smooth screens and six seats.

            “Perfect,” said Percy. “Now if we can just figure out how it works. Sure would be nice if it came with an owner’s manual. Then we could just skip to the section about inter-dimensional travel.”

            Danny tapped a screen in front of what he figured was the pilot’s seat experimentally. A window containing a rendering of the ship’s immediate surroundings appeared on most of the screen, options labeled in an alien script running down the right and bottom panes. He hit one just to see what would happen. The image zoomed way out, showing a planet and one of its moons connected by a dashed line with arrows along it pointing at the moon.

            “This thing must have come from there,” said Harry, pointing at the planet. “So we’re here?”

            “Looks like it,” Danny answered.

            Percy leaned forward around Danny and touched one of the onscreen buttons. The screen went blank momentarily before an image of some sort of control room filled it, a woman wearing a pale gray suit in the center. At first she looked confused, then alarmed as she barked out something in a language they didn’t understand.

            “Uh, let’s try another one of these babies,” Percy said sheepishly.

            They messed around with more of the options but came no closer to understanding how to work the thing. They were looking at (presumably) a systems status display when the screen again went blank, now under external control. When it flared to life once more, a chillingly familiar face stared back at Danny.

_“Vlad?”_

            Vlad’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected Danny to know his name, and he rattled off a string of gibberish.

            “Speak English, fruitloop. What are you doing here? Wherever here is,” Danny said.

            “You know that old geezer?” Percy asked.

            Danny nodded. “Unfortunately.”

            Vlad watched the exchange appraisingly. They saw his fingers drumming on the top of his desk. In response, the panels of the ship slid closed, trapping Danny, Percy and Harry inside.

            “What the heck, Vlad?”

            The only answer was the whine of an engine powering up. “Time to go?” prompted Harry.

            “Definitely,” said Danny, grabbing their arms and going intangible. They passed through the bottom of the ship as it lifted off the ground.

            With the ship gone, the teens saw no point in staying. They made the journey back to the comforting embrace of the river, dispirited. They still didn’t have a way home.

 ***

“The team has reported back, sir. They were unsuccessful and are regrouping.”

            Vlad Packers glared at the lackey whose name he couldn’t remember (probably because he hadn’t bothered to learn it in the first place; so few of his underlings were actually useful). How dare he bring such disappointing and outdated news to the eminently important Director of Extra-Planetary Assets? “I am already aware of their failure, whatever-your-name-is. Activate all available security personnel, I want the whole moon flooded!”

            “Yes, sir!”

            “And, whatever-your-name-is, get me a cruiser. I’m going up there myself.” Vlad was very interested in these extra-dimensional visitors. The video footage from the ship’s exterior cameras and those installed on the team’s helmets had proved very intriguing indeed.

            “Yes, sir!”

 ***

The heroes all saw the spaceships coming this time. There were so many. The big one in the lead flashed a blinding gold in the late evening sunlight. Danny looked up at it with the feeling that it was looking right back at him and smirking.

            They stood waiting in grim silence as it descended steadily. When it was still well above the trees, infinitesimal black spots began to rain down from it and all of the smaller ships. Danny was overwhelmed by the sight for a second before his brain shifted into overdrive. He had to figure out the right course of action for a positive outcome for him and his friends.

            “Danny, can you get us in a ship?” Percy asked.

            “Yes.” He didn’t need to remind anyone that they didn’t know how to fly it or that Vlad could apparently take over anytime he wanted.

            Harry redid their bubbles and they linked hands like they had when they set out to find the first ship, but this time Danny’s intangibility washed over them. He pushed off from the ground slowly, giving the others a few seconds to adjust to being weightless.

            “Whoa,” Herc said under his breath, flailing some. Danny almost laughed, despite the gravity of their situation.

            He looked up at the ship and picked one out. “Here we go,” Danny said, releasing a breath slowly. He propelled them all up to the ship, unused to the…tension (?) of extending his powers to more than just two people.

            Inside, the ship was empty. Danny and the others materialized and gathered around the pilot’s screen, now displaying the ship’s position in the fleet. As near as they could tell, it was on autopilot and nearly stationary.

            They were reluctant to touch anything, since they didn’t know what the buttons did. At least they knew to avoid the one that contacted the control room. When no one else made any move to take a chance, Korra reached out and tapped the screen impatiently, as she’d seen Danny and Percy do earlier. Miraculously, a new set of controls came out of a compartment under the screen, including an apparatus that looked like it was probably for steering.

            “Now this we can work with,” said Danny. “Very nice, Korra.”

            Danny strapped himself into the pilot’s seat and gestured for the others to sit too, noting that Percy, Hercules and Korra were looking very uncomfortable, like they expected to be struck by lightning bolts or something. Jack and Harry were more at ease, both well accustomed to being in the air.

            “Okay,” Danny breathed. He tried small, almost imperceptible movements of the controls at first, getting a feel for what they did. Then he jerked up sharply, speeding away from the fleet, hoping against hope that they could get away (wherever that was) before they were noticed. They were doing pretty good, he thought, until a sharp voice filled the interior of the ship, no doubt demanding to know what they were doing.

            That’s when things went to hell. The closest of the other ships blasted them out of the sky easily. Before they could hit the trees, Danny got them out into the air, weapons firing blindly from above and below. Danny lost his grip on intangibility when electricity again crashed into him, and the last thing he saw was his friends plunging towards the canopy.


	7. Hybrid Aspirations

**AN:**  Before we get started, I just wanted to warn you guys that this chapter contains a scene that's more adult theme-ish than the rest have been so far. It contains involuntary ingestion of an alternate dimension substance of dubious legality (inspired by catnip). I just wanted you guys to be aware in case drugs, even imaginary ones, are a sensitive topic for anyone.

* * *

 

“Report,” Vlad barked at his screen, absently turning over the pointed stick in his hands.

            The research division lackey practically trembled with excitement. “Sir, we’ve analyzed each subject’s chemical make-up. Four of them _should_ be exceptionally mundane, as the capabilities displayed on ZL0183-16 do not correlate to any previously demonstrated properties of the materials they are composed of.”

            Vlad’s expression turned dangerous. The lackey hurried on, now as eager to appease the director as he was to relay his findings. “The fifth, however, appears to be some sort of hybrid, composed not only of oxygen and carbon and such, as we are, _but also of ectoplasm_ ,” he finished dramatically, as if he were dropping a bombshell full of happy on the director. Which he was.

            _“How?”_ It was the only thing Vlad could manage. He dropped the stick, completely forgetting it for a moment. After a decade of their own attempts to fuse the limited quantities of ectoplasm available in their dimension with ordinary organic matter, the best they could come up with were stimulants that temporarily allowed the user to fly or walk through solid objects or disappear. Full fusion of a sentient, carbon-based body with ectoplasm had proven impossible. Until now.

            “We don’t know, sir. The subject in question remains dormant. We have linguists trying to reconstruct their language to allow for communication with the subject on awakening, but the sound inventory gathered during acquisition is extremely limited in scope and the conscious subjects are not cooperating.”

            “Make them cooperate, doctor.”

            “Yes, sir!”

            Before the words even left his mouth, Vlad dismissed him completely and pulled up the raw data streaming in from research, chatter from the labs still floating over his audio system in case anything that piqued his interest cropped up.

            Once he was caught up with the latest developments, Vlad went back to the very beginning, the dimensional rip, and worked his way to the present. He interlaced his fingers and pondered. Five singularly gifted individuals stumble inexplicably through a hole in the fabric of his reality onto one of his moons, a moon they can’t even breathe on, with no equipment and seemingly no objective. They then ignite a massive fire, presumably in response to an attack by local predators, and come out of the inferno unscathed, only to return to the site of ignition to attempt capture of one of his security vessels. Later they themselves are captured, again trying to make off with one of his ships.

            Why? Why were they here?

            And where did they come from? Were abilities such as theirs – his security personnel had had to slog through a monstrous combined blizzard, hurricane _and_ earthquake to acquire the specimens after they were knocked out of the sky, and then the one with superhuman strength had to go and break out of whatever container they put him in within seconds (until they sedated him) – were these abilities common in their dimension?

            Whether or not that was the case, Vlad’s priority now was to replicate them. Just think of all he would accomplish with an army of soldiers that could effect an infinite number of physical changes on the world around them with nothing but a pointy stick and a few nonsense words, for one. The systems that would fall to him, Vlad Packers. Er, that is, the systems that would fall to him in the name of Wisconsonia.

*** 

Muted beeping, an unintelligible hum of chatter and harsh lighting against his eyelids. Danny opened his eyes and wished he hadn’t. He lay curled on the floor of a vertical tube-shaped containment cell, wires running between him and the transparent walls. He swatted and tore at them until a jolt of electricity stopped him. He glared out of his cage.

            Outside, the lab was full of guards and scientists, the latter dressed in loose garments that came in a variety of lurid hues. Some were stationed at desks monitoring screens like the one in the spaceship, the rest loitered near the cells. Danny’s designated loiterer stared at him with a fierce look in his eye and bravado in his stance. He held up a picture of a small fluffy animal Danny had never seen before and spat out a string of syllables, then pointed expectantly at the picture. Perhaps he wanted Danny to name the animal. Or maybe Danny was being held on suspicion of pet-napping.

            “I don’t think you and I are going to like each other very much,” Danny remarked, standing and crossing his arms. His offhand manner belied a deep apprehension taking root. This guy and his colleagues were not nice people.

            The increasingly frustrated scientist held up more pictures of things Danny couldn’t name even if he wanted to. His attention wandered to the other nine cells spaced out along the walls, three of which were occupied by a worried Harry, brooding Percy and unconscious Korra. He hoped she was alright.

            Where were Jack and Hercules? Had they managed to get away? Or were they being held somewhere else? Or worse…Danny’s mind refused to go there. Hopefully at least one of them had escaped, as the four wrecked containment cells seemed to suggest.

            Another jolt of electricity brought his attention back to the man in front of his cell. Danny spared him a disdainful look before pointedly ignoring him in favor of his friends. Across the room, he locked eyes with Percy, who straightened. Harry stood on the same cue, ready to take any opening Danny might be able to give them.

            The loiterer’s eyes narrowed a split second before Danny transformed and blasted his cage with a concentrated ectobeam. Nothing. Danny stared at the point of impact in disbelief as the energy of his attack washed the inside of the cell wall a crackling, savage green. Electronic squeaks punctuated by exclamations from the scientists at the desks told him the wall was probably engineered to collect data about anything that touched it. Damn. Now what? Any attempt at escape would just give them more information they could use against him.

            The scientists converged in a huddle around one of the desks, talking excitedly. One of them gesticulated rapidly and expansively, pointing at Danny. The loiterer nodded and returned to Danny’s cage with a half-deranged, manic air. A series of clipped hand motions communicated plainly that he wanted Danny to do it again. Danny glared back, daring the man to try to make him.

            He was happy to oblige.

***          

“The subjects continue to resist efforts to coax observable trials out of them, sir.”

            “Of course they do, they’re super-powered teenage brats,” Vlad said coolly. “Perhaps it’s time I took a more active role in this matter.”

            He stepped into the teleportation pod in his office, pointy stick in hand (research, the sniveling ninnies, wanted it back for further testing), and programmed in his destination. When he stepped out of an identical pod in front of the primary observation lab, the guards stationed outside the pod nodded deferentially and let him pass.

            Just outside the lab, he paused to take stock of the scene within. To a man, his scientists exuded frustration and four of his containment cells were destroyed, all sparking wires and great jagged holes. His security personnel watched the occupied cells with tense expectation, the contents looking back in varying degrees of defiance, except for the still unconscious girl. They’d had to sedate her too, as the containment cells were woefully ill-equipped to hold whatever she was, having been designed primarily for the more unfortunate byproducts of the ectoplasm project.

            A lackey in taxi yellow, the head of the division he vaguely remembered, approached him. “Director Packers, we are _so_ honored by your visit,” she said eagerly. “Please, anything we can – ”

            “Yes, yes.” He waved her away, angling towards the nearest containment cell. Vibrant green eyes fixated on the pointy stick. “This is yours, isn’t it?” Vlad murmured. “How does it work? My scientists are stumped by it, frankly. Worthless fools, the lot of them, eh?” Without pausing for an answer, he rapped the stick against the cell wall before handing it off to a passing intern. 

            He moved to the next cell. His researchers claimed this one was the originator of the hurricane based on words like ‘triangulation’ and ‘epicenter’. Thus far, however, the subject had demonstrated no such capability. “No new developments with this one?”

            “No, sir,” Yellow Head confirmed. “Atmospheric readings suggest that the storm’s ingredients, if you will, were pre-existing and the subject simply manipulated them. It is unlikely that he can instigate a major storm without large quantities of water readily available. The same appears to be true of the female’s demonstrated elemental control, except for the fire.”

            Vlad was unimpressed. Wisconsonian engineers had long since perfected weather manipulation and terraforming devices. They hadn’t quite worked out the kinks in handheld versions, but it was only a matter of time. “Interesting, perhaps, but ultimately little more than a novelty. What a pity.”

            “We still intend to learn all we can about the mechanics of these abilities,” said Yellow Head.

            “Carry on then, if you must.” Vlad was far more interested in application than theory, but Wisconsonia’s pesky governing body demanded that some of his funding be allocated to basic research. One of these days he was going to have to do something about them. He went off on a tiny fantasy in which a swarm of pointy stick-wielding ectoplasmic hybrids descended on the Planetary Assembly House. With that glorious image in mind, he approached the last subject, the probable key to all his dreams.

            “Magnificent,” he said, hushed. The glowing green eyes, effortless hovering, otherworldly luminescence. A genetic miracle, marred only by an all too human stubborn streak attested to by the set of his jaw. Predictably, the teen started jabbering at him, no doubt threatening some form of bodily harm if he was not released. Really, the child had no respect for authority. His father must be a complete and utter dolt.

            “How is the genetic sequencing progressing?” Vlad asked the subject’s assigned intern.

            “Smoothly, sir. It’s the observation phase we’re having trouble with. He won’t cooperate.”

            That was positively whiny. Vlad didn’t like whiners. He made a mental note to remember to lay this man’s life out in ruins before him. “What _do_ you know, intern?” Vlad asked in a tone that clearly indicated how little he thought that must be.

            The intern flushed. Vlad glowered.

            “He’s more powerful and more stable than any of our own short-lived fusion attempts, but it’s difficult to quantify that without repeated trials,” Yellow Head answered, coming up on his left. “The likely explanation for it is that the ectoplasmic component of his biological make-up differs chemically from what we know as ectoplasm in our dimension. It’s conceivable that that difference is the key to successful fusion.”

            “I trust you’re already working on isolating it then.”

            “Yes, sir. I have people comparing his blood with samples obtained from the purple astromorph colonies of ZL0183-16 as we speak.”

            “Good,” Vlad said. He thought for a moment. “Dose him with Juice.”

            Yellow Head’s eyes widened. “Sir, is that wise?” she asked hesitantly.

            Vlad’s glower deepened. The insipid lab wench flinched and scurried off to carry out his orders.

            She was right, though. It was not a wise idea; rather, it was a brilliant one! Juice, a substance synthesized from the _Nepeta ectolaria_ plant, was a popular recreational drug on the streets of Wisconsonia along with ectoplasmic stimulants. In small doses the combination induced a fleeting euphoria and/or relaxation. In larger doses it increased aggressive and restless behaviors, often leading to high profile acts of mayhem. With the right amount of Juice in his system, the hybrid would be incapable of suppressing his body’s need to expend suddenly boundless energy via (presto!) observable trials.

            His phone beeped. Blast, his PR stooges were in hysterics over one of his more…clandestine…operations again. As much as he wanted to stick around and watch, Vlad was a very important man, and very important men were in constant demand. He sighed wistfully. “Places to go, people to crush, young hybrid. But don’t worry, your little show will be recorded for my viewing pleasure.”

            With a last, fond smile Vlad swept out of the lab.

 ***

Danny just knew that creeper smile was bad news. His suspicions were confirmed when one of the wires he’d swatted earlier rose up like some kind of zombie cyborg tentacle and buried itself in his poor battered arm. He brushed it away again, but the thing seemed to have a will of its own, and between that and the latest round of shocks designed to pound him into submission, it got him.

            The sensation crept up on him at first, but soon enough he was feeling decidedly dopey. He shook his head. And then shook it again. _What the hell?_ he thought, yawning. Because it seemed like the thing to do, he sat down and leaned against the side of the cage, closing his eyes and smiling. A nagging sense that something was off tried to fight its way to the forefront of his thoughts. Failed miserably in the face of the contented stupor.

            A minute later his eyes snapped open and he sprang to his feet. Something was _wrong_. His heart raced and he slammed the containment cell wall with a sustained ectoblast. He had to get out of there. The scientists all but crowed in delight at his outburst, and Danny suddenly hated them fiercely. He tried intangibility one more time but rebounded painfully off the invisible barrier coating the inside of the physical wall.

            Hercules and Jack chose that precise moment to crash through the lab doors. The security people made to converge on them, but frost bloomed on the floor and they lost their footing. Hercules wasted no time releasing Percy and Harry and gathering Korra up in his arms. Harry made a beeline for his wand, Percy helping him brawl and slide his way through scientists struggling to regain control of the situation. Meanwhile Jack froze the wall of Danny’s cage and shattered it with his staff.

            “Jack, they did something to me,” Danny said immediately, clutching Jack’s arm tight. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man from earlier, the loiterer, slipping on the ice that now coated the floor. Anger spiked and he jerked towards the man.

            Jack caught him and lurched back, surprise and alarm warring on his face. “Whoa, Danny. Focus. We have to get out of here.”

            Fortunately Danny didn’t fight him as they crossed to where the others had gathered by the mangled door. Instead he shot ice and ectoplasm willy-nilly, gleefully trashing several machines.

_Take that, fruitloop_ , he thought happily.

* * *

**AN:** Thank you for reading!

 


	8. Thinking Outside the Dimension

So. The brats had escaped. It was only a matter of time, really. Vlad was well aware that he didn’t have a facility capable of holding them all indefinitely (yet; after this incident that would have to change). At least he already had plenty of data to keep his research division busy for years to come. Even now, as the brats traipsed through the halls of his science outpost with all the subtlety of drunken giants, sensors built into the walls were transmitting information to archives as well as his planetside office. Not as good as the containment chambers, admittedly, but better than nothing.

             His primary regret in the whole affair was not getting the chance to interrogate them. However with a little luck, that might not be a lost cause. “You did, of course, inject them with tracking bots?”

            “Yes, sir, it was one of the first things we did, sir.” said the latest in a string of lackeys to deliver an update of the situation.

            Good. “Dismissed.”

            He tapped at his desktop panel. An image of a dark, pixie-like youth in casual attire filled his screen. “Mr. Packers, what can I do for you?”

            “I’ve got a bit of a problem on my hands, and I think you’re just the man to solve it for me, Baldwin,” Vlad began. “Assuming your prototype is functional.”

            Baldwin’s eye gleamed with pride. “It is, sir. Initial test runs have proceeded satisfactorily, barring a few unfortunate accidents. As stated in my last report.”

            Vlad overlooked the impertinent undercurrent. Lark Baldwin’s mind was a thing of beauty, and that coupled with his general competence made him an asset Vlad was loath to annihilate. “I’m sending you a set of extra-dimensional coordinates,” he said, pulling up a file in another window. “I want you to program them into the gate and clear your lab and the surrounding area of all personnel.”

            “Will do, Mr. Packers.”

            Vlad nodded and tapped some more. This time his chief of security answered. “Director Packers,” he greeted.

            “Kartinos, regarding the escaped lab specimens, I want you to herd them toward Dr. Baldwin’s lab.”

            “Yes, sir.”

 ***

“You smell good,” Danny said, rubbing his cheek against Percy’s shoulder and _clinging_.

            Percy turned, round horror-filled eyes on Hercules and his bundle of Korra. “How did we get saddled with babysitter duty?”

            “At least he’s not trying to blow everything up anymore,” Harry consoled from up ahead. The group let out a collective sigh of relief; destructive, _loud_ Danny had been quite a handful. Maybe now that he wasn’t laughing maniacally they might be able to avoid more security patrols. Not that security patrols posed much of a threat in small groups. If they got a bigger group together, that would be another thing entirely. 

            Soon, Korra stirred. Hercules let her feet down gently, keeping one arm tentatively at her waist in case she lost her balance. “I’m alright,” she said, subdued. “Just a little dizzy. What did I miss?”

            “What’s the last thing you remember?” Hercules asked.

            “Uh, lots and lots of water. And snow. After that, just flashes.”

            “Well, we all got captured – ” Hercules started.

            “Except for me,” Jack interrupted with a smirk. “I snuck in on my own.”

            “Right. They brought us here and put us in a bunch of weird cages – ”

            “I seem to remember something about that,” Korra said.

            “After that they ran a bunch of blood tests or something,” Percy put in. “We’re in some kind of mad scientist lab.”

            “And then Herc and I effected your escape. Now we’re trying to find a way out of this place,” Jack finished.

            “What’s wrong with Danny?” she said.

            At the sound of his name, Danny finally let go of Percy and sniffed Korra. “You don’t smell as good as Percy. He smells like the ocean,” Danny said. Nonetheless, he nuzzled her shoulder too.

            “Uh, personal space,” Korra said, lurching into Hercules.

            “Danny’s somehow regressed to superghost toddlerhood. Just be glad you missed the worst of it,” Percy griped.

            Having filled Korra in on how they'd come to be wandering around a labyrinth of corridors with more of those vexatious touchscreens embedded in the walls at intervals, they walked on in silence for the better part of a half hour. They started noticing that, while no door was impenetrable to them, certain doors were more penetrable than others. Furthermore, some stretches of corridor filled with gas that induced awful coughing fits as soon as they entered, forcing them to double back and try a different door. And that full division of troops they kept expecting to find around every bend never materialized.

            “Something’s up,” Percy said finally, when no one else seemed willing to give voice to their suspicions.

            There was a general feeling of assent in answer.

            With every door they passed, every corridor they traversed, the sense that they were playing right into that old geezer’s hands grew heavier. It peaked when they arrived at some sort of lab with an odd, silvery hole in the far wall. Danny walked purposefully toward it.

            “No! Bad Danny!” Percy said, pulling him back by the arm.

            Danny shook him off. “Relax, Percy, I’m back to normal,” he said. “I just want a closer look.”

            Percy squinted at him. The crazed gleam in his eye was indeed gone, though now he looked a little dazed without it. “You sure you’re alright, dude?”

            Danny nodded and stepped up close to the hole. “It looks a lot like my parents’ ghost portal,” he said. “’Cept ours is green cause the Ghost Zone is green.”

            “You think it actually is some sort of…portal?” asked Harry.

            Danny’s brow furrowed. “Maybe. But even if I was sure, I wouldn’t recommend walking into it. We don’t know what’s on the other side or if it’s even fully functional. It could still be in the testing phase and, trust me, we don’t want to be guinea pigs.”

            “No,” Hercules agreed darkly. The more he saw of this technology stuff, the less he liked it.

            “But if it could get us home…” Korra trailed off.

            The decision was taken out of their hands when security troopers flooded the lab and leveled weapons on them.

 ***

“They’re gone?”

            “Yes, Director Packers. They put up a bit of a fight, I’m afraid. Dr. Baldwin was quite upset when we let him back in to assess the damage,” Kartinos responded smugly. It was no secret that Baldwin and Kartinos bore no special love for one other.

            “Indeed. And I don’t suppose any of those damages were avoidable?”

            “Unfortunately no, sir.”

            “I didn’t think so,” Vlad said, rubbing his temples. “Regardless, you’ve done well, Kartinos.”

            “Thank you, sir.”

            Vlad nodded gruffly and cut the communication. Though he did not relish the prospect of hysterics from his infantile prodigy, he was sure this little operation would be worth it. Very soon he would know where those brats had come from, and even more importantly, he would have access to their home world(s). And, if he was right, access to a steady supply of a powerful variety of ectoplasm with which he could reinvigorate his hybrid project.

            Vlad was one happy future dictator of the universe.

 ***

Danny half-expected to find himself face to face with hungry dinosaurs or giant mosquitoes on the other side of the rapidly closing portal. Instead, profound, almost giddy relief welled up in him at the sight of a familiar table with the number 126 on a placard in the center. Grinning like an idiot, he instinctively threw an arm each around Harry and Jack. Jack in turn put an arm around Korra. On her other side, Hercules clutched her and Percy to him in a grip that couldn’t be entirely comfortable, his eyes rimmed in red. Percy reached for Harry. They smiled and closed the circle.


	9. The Big Guy

“Oh, thank goodness!” exclaimed a voice with a Scottish accent.

            As one, they turned to find the girl with the wild red hair from ages ago hurrying towards them. Seeing her again sent Danny’s mind reeling. It felt surreal. He and Harry shared an identically unnerved look.

            “Is anyone hurt?” she asked breathlessly. Danny and the others glanced around at each other.

            “We seem to all be in one piece,” Percy answered. “What’s going on here? Is this really that crazy hero dimension? Are you real? Guys, you think she’s real?”

            Jack poked her with his staff, leaving behind a curl of frost on her red Volunteer t-shirt (which clashed spectacularly with her hair). “She seems solid enough.”

            “I’m real! I promise,” she said, anxious to reassure them. Other volunteers, as labeled by their t-shirts, began to close in with bottles of water, first aid kits and towels. “You’re back, and we’re going to do everything in our power to set things right, starting with having you all checked out by a physician.”

            “Wait a second.” Korra held up her hand and gave the swarm of volunteers a Look. Several took involuntary steps away. “Before we let you take us anywhere, we need to know what’s happened since we’ve been gone.”

            The redhead bit her lower lip. “Avatar Korra, with all due respect, I’m not sure I’m the most qualified to explain.”

            “Try,” Korra ordered.

            The redhead nodded. “Four months ago, attendees of the Inter-Dimensional Villains Convention took control of our command center for several hours, using its capabilities to send you all away. It was a very dark, almost hopeless time for everyone here, until some of us volunteers managed to sneak into the control center and bring back a few of the hero teams. Together we were able to take back our dimension. Since then we’ve been working on tracking down the rest of the heroes lost that night. Some, like yourselves, have found their way here on their own.”

            The heroes once again exchanged glances. “Four months,” said Danny. “So maybe it hasn’t been that long back home. Right?”

            “I really can’t say. I’m sorry,” the redhead apologized. “There’s been quite a bit of instability inflicted on this dimension, what with heroes and villains coming and going under uncontrolled circumstances. Our time-space engineers suspect that the flow of time may have been altered. Now, please, let us escort you to our medical center.”

            “Uh, thanks very much for the offer, but we just want to get home as soon as possible,” Percy said for them all, grim-faced.

            The redhead looked distressed and her colleagues shifted closer, ringing the heroes in. “Please, we don’t know what pathogens you may have been exposed to. You need to be screened by a doctor before we can be sure you’re not carrying something that could devastate the populations of your worlds.”

            At that, the heroes reluctantly allowed the volunteers to escort them out of the hall into the light of a clear, beautiful morning. Lush, rolling moorland with a shimmering lake at its heart spread out before them, graceful stone buildings clustered on the near side of the lake. In the center of the lake, a shining castle rose from an island up into the clouds.

            “Whoa,” said Danny.

            The redheaded girl was smiling. “Welcome to Avalon, heroes.”

            Soon they came to the medical center, a long four-story building at the edge of the town with ivy growing up most of its walls and stocky turrets at each of the corners. Inside, nurses and interns ushered them to a private wing and took blood samples. The redheaded girl, who they learned was called Merida (after her great-grandmother, a brave Scottish heroine) waited with them until a doctor came, then went off to join the other volunteers for decontamination.

            “Another team with who knows how many never-before-dreamed-of viruses. Great,” said a grouchy man in a blue shirt. There was a silver emblem on the right side of his chest, shaped kind of like an A with a star in the middle. He proceeded to wave a boxy device with all sorts of buttons and screens on it all around them, like some kind of high-tech shaman.

            “Um, is there a point to this, doctor?” Danny asked dubiously.

            “McCoy,” he grunted. “And yes. The point is to keep you alive, young man.”

            After much dark muttering about germs and foolhardy heroes and someone named Jim while he thoroughly examined them for signs of injury or disease, the doctor attacked them each, except for Jack of course, with a battery of vaccines and declared them ‘clean.’ Then he told them they reeked and shooed them out of his private wing into the care of more volunteers. The volunteers made sure they were decontaminated (a fancy word that turned out to mean showered and dressed in new, Avalon-style clothes, a modern take on medieval garb) then led them to a cafeteria for a much needed brunch.

            “Man, I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now,” Danny said around a mouthful of apple.

            “Me too,” Harry seconded. “And I still can’t believe we’re here.”

            “Yeah. For a while there, things looked pretty dire, didn’t they?” said Hercules.

            “Speaking of which, how are you feeling, Danny?” Korra asked, a line of worry creasing her forehead.

            “Tired but mostly fine, like I told the doctor,” he answered. “Actually, I wanted to apologize, to all of you, for how I acted when…well, you know.”

            “No worries, man,” said Percy. “But, just one thing; don’t ever fry all the lights and yell ‘ghost!’ ever again. That was seriously the most terrifying ten seconds of my life.”

            Everyone laughed but Danny, who was too busy being mortified. They ate quietly for a while after that, until Jack stopped idly twirling his staff and spoke. His voice sounded level, no more than mildly curious, but there was that vulnerability to it that Danny was beginning to realize was always there, underneath the fun and the mischief. “Hey, guys, do you think we’ll ever see each other again after this?”

            A heavy silence ensued. Korra and Hercules locked eyes across the table and then looked down. Out of all of them, they were the ones who were most obviously from separate dimensions.

            “There’s got to be a way. I mean, none of us are what you could call mundane,” offered Harry. “I’ll ask my professors if they know of a way to cross dimensions with magic.”

            “I bet my father could send me to your worlds, if I asked him,” Hercules said, excitement lighting his eyes.

            “And I’ve already got a dimensional portal in my basement. All I have to do is figure out how to make it open to different places. Piece of cake,” added Danny.

            Jack nodded, reassured.

            Merida found them then. “The big guy wants to see you,” she declared without preamble.

            “Who?” Danny asked.

            “Kal-El. Since the King isn’t here, he’s in charge.”

            “King?” Danny echoed.

            “King Arthur. He has returned to Camelot,” Merida answered.

            She led them through the bustling cobblestone streets of Avalon, past shops, restaurants and businesses of all kinds, all dressed in flowers and ivy. Underneath the picturesque exterior, it didn’t seem too different from a small city back home, except for the open top carriages. Those were definitely different. Merida whistled one down and gestured for them to climb in.

            Midway through the ride, Danny saw Harry shifting uncomfortably and followed his stolen glances down to the street. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed people often did double-takes as they passed and a few even pointed smartphones at the carriage. By the time they drew near the castle causeway, a handful of people with large, professional cameras and ravenous expressions were tailing them.

            “Are those…paparazzi?” Danny asked.

            “Yes,” Merida answered through clenched teeth. “I’m terribly sorry about this. I wanted you to get a good view of the town, but now I see that was a mistake.”

            Danny and the others were extremely relieved to pass the security checkpoint at the entrance to the causeway.

 ***

Up close, the castle was magnificent. Its soaring walls gleamed almost silver against a sky so brilliantly blue it hurt. “Wow,” Korra breathed.

            They descended from the carriage in front of a sweep of stairs that led up to a colossal gateway. “This way,” said Merida, passing under the archway. They followed. It was a good thing she apparently knew her way around quite well, because there was so much to see on the other side that Danny and the others were hopelessly lost within a minute of crossing the expansive, flawlessly landscaped courtyard.

            Though Danny would have liked to see more of the interior, Merida steered them into a round elevator shortly after breezing through the main entrance hall. Probably for the best. As beautiful as this place was, he was anxious to get home and make sure everything was alright as soon as possible. Unbidden, images of ghosts cackling while they demolished buildings and flung cars at fleeing Amity Park residents played in his mind.

            Finally they arrived at Kal-El’s glass-enclosed office on the top floor of the highest tower. Kal-El himself greeted them each by name as soon as they stepped off the elevator. When it was Danny’s turn, the teen couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he’d seen him somewhere before. Maybe it was just the familiarity of his clothes; for being the ‘big guy’ in charge when the King wasn’t around, Kal-El sure didn’t look it, in his primary red t-shirt and blue jeans.

            “Mr. El, I think I can speak for us all when I say that we’d like to go home now,” said Korra.

            “Call me Clark. Have a seat,” he replied. None of them made any move to sit. Clark leaned back against his desk. “I understand completely the need you all feel to get home. However, before I can send you back, I have a request. Actually two. The first is that you stay here two weeks.”

            Loud, instant protests. Clark held up his hands in a placating gesture.

            “Hear me out. I don’t know what you went through to get back here, but I can’t imagine it was easy. I want you to rest before you return to your worlds to face whatever trials may be awaiting you. Secondly, as I’m sure the doctor mentioned, it’s very likely that you picked up a number of pathogens for which there is no cure in your home dimensions. If you go back now, you risk starting catastrophic pandemics. Even you, Jack.”

            Nobody liked that.

“Why two weeks? Could a couple days be long enough?” Korra asked.

            “I’m afraid not. A typical virus can incubate for two weeks with no symptoms.”

            “But…what if we catch something here?” Danny asked slowly.

            “We’ll test you for everything we know about before we let you go. It’s the stuff we don’t know about that we’re worried about right now,” Clark answered.

            There was a pause, while the teens thought about home and all the things that could go wrong in however much time two weeks here corresponded to.

            “What about your second request?” Jack asked.

            Clark’s expression flickered, and they caught a glimpse of some deep, haunting emotion. “While a number of teams have made it back, we still have well over a thousand heroes unaccounted for. I’m asking everyone who does manage to get here to help in our efforts to retrieve the others.”

            Danny felt like he’d been hit with a sledgehammer. He’d known a lot of heroes were still missing but a thousand? Thinking of that night, of all the incredible people that had packed the Hall of Heroes, he wanted to say yes; to even consider denying the request felt like a betrayal of a soul-deep tie of brotherhood he hadn’t even been aware of before that night. But he couldn’t, not with the fate of his home in question.

            “I know what I’m asking of you,” Clark said softly. “That’s why I don’t want an answer now. Think it over while you’re here. And, if it makes the decision any easier, you can go home first and come back when things are stable there.”

 ***

Guest rooms in the castle were provided for the duration of their stay. Danny got his chance to explore its corridors and galleries after all, but Amity Park was never far from his mind. He could tell the others were equally preoccupied with their own homes, even as they tried to make the best of the time they had in Avalon.

            The first couple of days they stayed in, alternately catching up on sleep and wandering the castle and its grounds. On the third day they went out. At first heads kept turning wherever they went, but soon ‘everyone’ knew that the six young heroes were in town; and suddenly they were old news. Just like that, interest in their comings and goings dropped to almost nothing and they were free to roam the city mostly undisturbed. Occasionally someone would ask for a picture or an autograph, but the paparazzi more or less evaporated.

            Nevertheless, they took to going out later, when there were fewer people out. As gorgeous as the days were, Avalon nights were the stuff of dreams. Old-fashioned gas lamps washed the storefronts in a warm radiance, transforming the city into a charming mystery wrapped in stars and the sweet scent of jasmine. Even though he knew she’d been all over the world and something this unapologetically romantic probably wouldn’t impress her, Danny found himself wishing Sam could be there with him.

            “Someone on your mind?” Percy said quietly. The two of them stood a little ways off from where the rest of the group debated where to go next.

            Danny nodded, a little embarrassed.

            “Me too,” he said looking up at the moon as if it were a window between worlds.

             Eventually they wound up by the lake, lying in the well-kept grass of the massive park that surrounded it. Danny closed his eyes but the peace that the others had found here eluded him. He needed to be in the air. Bidding everyone a good night, Danny went ghost, shooting up into the night sky. He circled the town a few times, some of the tension draining out of him. Gradually, he spiraled up to where the atmosphere was too thin to breathe anymore and settled into a steady coast, facing the stars with his hands behind his head. He thought of Sam and wondered if she was thinking of him. His heart squeezed painfully at the thought of her losing sleep over him.

            The night wore on, and he reluctantly decided to head back to the castle. Instead of phasing through it to his room, he angled towards the westernmost turret. The top turned out to already be occupied. Danny started to reverse course, but Clark stopped him. “You don’t have to go. I could use some company.”

            Despite his own desire to be alone, Danny landed beside him. “It’s pretty up here,” he said, just to say something.

            Clark made a noise of agreement. The silence stretched. Then, “You’re worried about Amity Park, aren’t you?”

            “Yeah.” _Duh._

            “I’m worried about my home, too.”

            Danny turned his head fractionally to study Clark’s profile. “You haven’t been back?”

            “No. I can help everyone the most by finding the others,” he said. “Besides, if there’s one thing I know about the people I’ve chosen as my own, it’s that they’re strong. If I’m not there to catch them, they’ll learn to fly. But I hate not being around to save them the skinned knees and scraped palms.”

            Danny mulled that over, thinking about Sam and Tucker, Jazz, his mom and dad. Even Valerie and Lancer and all the kids at school. Could they hold their own against the ghosts in his absence? The answer was an unequivocal yes, he realized. More importantly, they _would_ …but at what cost?

            “I think I can kinda see what you mean. We’re like training wheels. On a flying motorcycle.”

            Clark chuckled. “Yeah.”

            “But my people,” he said, then stopped, utterly mind-blown. They really were his people. They belonged to him, just as he knew he belonged to them. It was a sobering thought, one that he wasn’t ready to fully absorb. To distract himself from the dizzying enormity of it, he started talking again, grasping at the frayed threads of conversation. “That is, uh, Amity Parkians, they’re – what was I talking about? Oh yeah, training wheels. They’re not ready to take them off yet.”

            “You’d be surprised what they’re ready for. You need to believe in them, Danny, or they’ll never learn to believe in themselves.”

            “I – yeah. But,” he sputtered, trying to find the words. “They’re so – fragile!”

            Clark smiled knowingly. “You’ll see the day come when they’ll be the ones saving you.” He put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “I’m going up for a while. Have a good night, Danny.”

            “Goodnight, Clark,” Danny answered.

            Clark pushed off from the tower roof. Danny watched him soar up, struck by that feeling of familiarity again. Then it dawned on him; Clark was Superman.

            He thought about their conversation on and off for the rest of his time in Avalon and long after.

* * *

**AN:** Thank you for reading!

 


	10. Resolve

The two weeks passed much more quickly than any of the heroes expected. Clark summoned them to his office on the last morning.

            “Are any of you ready to join the search for our missing at this time?” he asked them.

            “I am, sir,” Hercules answered. Danny’s head snapped to him, as did three others. Percy and Clark seemed unsurprised. “I don’t really belong back home, and Greece has my father and the other gods to look after it. This is important, not only to me personally as a hero-in-training, but to the worlds that have been left vulnerable without their protectors,” he explained earnestly.

            Clark squeezed his shoulder, smiling warmly. “Thank you, Hercules.” Then he addressed the others. “I completely understand why the rest of you have to return to your home worlds. Good luck, and please remember what we talked about. Trust your instincts, and trust in your people, in your friends, in the strength of your spirit and in your power to shape your own destiny and that of your worlds for the better.”

            He reached over to his desk and handed them each a silver ring. The one he gave Danny had on it the stylized DP symbol Sam had designed for him in green metal, set into a round black plate. “These rings will allow you to travel back and forth between your home dimension and this one. You’re always welcome here. Be safe, heroes.”

            He left, and the teens looked at each other.

“So, this is it,” said Jack.

            Korra hugged him. “Be safe, Jack, until we meet again.” She hugged each of the others in turn. The boys also exchanged hugs and claps on the back, a bit more comfortable with the physical contact than they had been when Hercules won the Hero for Best Rookie. And then they just stood there, morning streaming by outside the glass wall of the turret.

            Finally, Percy broke the silence. “We have to go,” he said. “It’s been an honor having my butt saved by the best.” He saluted sloppily. “Herc, be careful, man.” He shook his cousin’s hand again for good measure. “On three?” They nodded. “One. Two. Three.”

            Danny slipped his ring on and concentrated on his room. The tower office dissolved around him.

 ***

Back in his room, Danny felt curiously bereft. He knew he should feel relieved, and part of him did, immensely so; but another part kept returning to his hero friends. He gave himself a few moments to acknowledge that he missed them and to remember everything, from being ushered into a seat next to Harry and Hercules, to waking up to Jack and Korra’s concerned faces, to leaning on Percy while he was drugged, and finally, to those two weeks in Avalon. He took a deep breath, released it in a long sigh.

            Pushing the memories back until later, Danny opened the door to the hallway and started down the stairs, noting that the house hadn’t changed at all since he was last here. That was a good sign. At the bottom of the stairs, he saw that no one was home. He went out and stood at the top of the stoop, appraising the neighborhood. It wasn’t as bad as he expected. Some of the buildings did look a little worse for wear, but the damage didn’t seem to be anywhere near the level of calamity he’d been imagining for two weeks. Or however long it had been here.

            When a furtive glance to each side didn’t reveal any prying eyes, he switched forms and took to the air, Fenton thermos in hand. Not ten minutes later, he’d already captured dozens of ghosts at various spots around town. Next stop: the Nasty Burger.

            The sign had a car door stuck in it. Danny sped up and phased through the wall. The scene that met him on the other side floored him. Not uncharacteristically, the restaurant patrons and staff huddled under tables and behind the counter. The worldview-shattering part was the three other figures in the room: Mr. Lancer and, as if that wasn’t wtf-worthy enough, _Skulker_ , facing off against a human teen who had a Fenton blaster in one hand and a handgun – the kind that shot _bullets_ – in the other.

            The teen whipped his head around. With a jolt, Danny recognized him as a senior at Casper High, one of the tutors that Danny frequently partnered with during the mandatory after school sessions imposed by his teachers. His name was Riley Striker, only this Riley was not the one that used to smile patiently at him over his English homework. This Riley’s face twisted into an ugly mask of hate when his gaze fixed on Danny.

            “Finally. I was starting to think you’d just keep letting them die,” Riley spat.

            “Riley, what – ” Danny started.

            Riley fired the Fenton blaster, hitting Danny square in the gut. Danny flew back into the wall, too shocked to go intangible. He slid to the floor, momentarily stunned.

            “Riley, please, calm down,” Lancer pleaded.

            “You waste your breath on this one, portly educator. He is a mad dog and must be put down,” Skulker boomed.

            He raised his arm and Danny saw another human gun. Quicker than thought, he launched himself at Riley, taking him out of the line of fire just as Skulker pulled the trigger. They rolled. Riley threw a punch at Danny, but it didn’t connect. Danny pinned him easily, knocking the weapons loose.

            “Riley, what happened?” he whispered.

            Riley struggled harder.

            “Move aside, whelp,” said Skulker.

            Danny glared up at him. “No.”

            “This man is a murderer, of humans and ghosts alike.”

            “If you kill him, he’ll just come back.”

            “And we will kill him again, in the Ghost Zone.” He floated closer.

            “I’m warning you, Skulker. I’ll fight you.”

            “You are a fool to protect such a wretch.”     

            They stared each other down for several tense moments before the police stormed in and Skulker took off. Danny handed Riley over to them, unable to tear his eyes away from his retreating back.

            “Phantom?” said one of the officers. “We need you to come down to the station to answer a few questions.”

            Danny jerked and refocused. “What day is it?” he asked. His heart raced as he waited for the answer, terrified that this was only the first of the irrevocable changes his absence had brought.

            “The 23rd of March, Mr. Phantom,” said Lancer, coming up on Danny’s left.

            Only ten days. He had to find his friends and family. They’d be able to tell him what he’d missed. He flew up through the roof, already forgetting the officer and his questions. Outside, he spied Sam and Tucker almost immediately, en route to the Nasty Burger. They pulled up short at the sight of him, and Danny touched down on the sidewalk.

            “Danny,” said Sam, barely audible. She flew at him, hugging him fiercely as tears began to leak out of the corners of her eyes against her will. “I thought…” she started, before her throat clamped shut around a painful lump. She buried her head in Danny’s chest.

            “Hey, I’m alright,” he reassured her. He smiled at Tucker over her shoulder. “Tuck, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. You’re almost as pale as me.”

            His eyes shining, Tucker managed a choked laugh. Danny opened one of his arms in invitation and Tucker took it. “I’m so glad to be back here with the two of you,” Danny sighed. He stepped out of their embrace and shook his head to clear it. “Right, now, what have I missed? What…what happened to Riley?”

            Sam and Tucker shared a look. Dread pooled in the pit of Danny’s stomach.

            “Whatever it is, I need to know. I can handle it.” Probably.

            “When you disappeared – ”

            “Tucker,” Sam warned.

            “He’s going to find out anyway. Better we tell him than he hear about it on the news,” Tucker argued.

            “But – ”

            “Let him talk, Sam,” said Danny. Her jaw clenched.

            When she didn’t say anything, Tucker went on, “The ghosts caught on right away that you were gone. They started coming over and wreaking all kinds of havoc. At first it was just the usual, and Valerie and us were handling it. But then some really nasty characters we’d never seen before busted out of Walker’s prison. A lot of people got hurt before Walker and his goons were able to round them up.”

           Danny took a deep breath to stave off the guilt. He’d deal with it later. Right now he needed the whole picture. “And Riley?”

            Tucker opened his mouth.

            “That’s enough,” Sam snapped. “Danny needs to see his family.”

 ***

Maddie took one look at her son and burst into tears. Jack, for once, was speechless, but the bear hug he swept the whole family up in more than made up for the lack of words.

            “Where have you been?” Maddie said, holding Danny’s face in both hands.

            “I don’t really know. I was lost,” Danny answered. They didn’t push him for more, not yet anyway; Maddie and Jack had assumed that Danny went missing during a ghost attack at Casper High, and without any real clues as to where he might be, Tucker and Sam hadn’t told them any different.

            “You’re back now, and that’s all that matters, little brother,” said Jazz.

            Danny nodded, even though he didn’t really believe it. How could he when so much misery had touched the lives of his people? He knew now why Riley had snapped; among those killed by the ghost convicts were both of his parents and his younger brother. Riley held Danny Phantom responsible because he hadn’t been there to save them, so he’d been attacking ghosts and humans alike to try to draw him out. Together the mad wrongness of it and the memory of something eerily similar almost happening to him sent a chill down Danny’s spine. _I’m still here…you still turn into me._

            “I think I better go up to bed,” he said abruptly.

            Alone in his room, he went ghost and rose up through the ceiling. He sat on the railing that enclosed the roof. The view of his city stretching to the horizon evoked a shrill clamor of emotions. There was guilt, for sure, and sorrow deeper than any he’d felt before, crashing around a defiant blare of resolve. And underneath it all, he hoped his friends hadn’t been greeted by similar heartache in their own home worlds.

            He cast his eyes up to the stars. “I know it’s not my fault,” he said out loud. “What happened to Riley. But I can’t help thinking that he and his family would be alright if I’d been here.”

            The stars didn’t respond. He looked back down at the city. In the distance, he could just make out some green flashes that almost certainly meant there was a ghost out making trouble. Danny closed his eyes for a second and let out a long breath, exhaling as much of the turmoil as he could. It didn’t go quietly, and he knew that later he’d have to sort through the mess of feelings, preferably over milkshakes with Sam and Tucker. But right now his city needed him.

            His city needed him. Heart full of determination, he leapt into the air.

 ***

**AN:** I am immensely grateful to anyone who’s read this far. Really, just thank you so, so much. I have trouble verbalizing my own feelings, but trust me when I say that the time you’ve spent reading is deeply appreciated.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this story. I know it had its rocky moments, but hopefully the good parts outweigh the bad :-)

Again, thank you so much for reading. And good luck to you in all your endeavors, fanfiction-related and real life both.

P.S. It is my firm belief that Danny and the others do indeed see each other again. They haven't discovered it yet, but the rings Clark gave them allow them to travel to any dimension they want. Plus, there's always next year's Heroes.


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